Silverstone Maseratis: Smurra's glory
Series leader Emanuele Smurra took his fourth win of the season to extend his lead at the head of the Trofeo Vodafone Maserati series in the British GP support race at Silverstone on Sunday
The Roman took the lead from female racer Edi Gay after the pit-stops, getting a faster line through Woodcote at the end of lap 15. Ex-Ferrari Formula 1 driver Ivan Capelli led initially after snatching the lead from Gay's partner Diego Alessi at the end of a two-lap safety car period. Top six qualifiers Max Cattori and Alberto Cerrai had collided heavily at Copse after the rolling start.
Alessi held on to Capelli for 11 laps, and inherited the lead when Capelli pulled in to pit and hand over to Marco Della Monica. Capelli said: "Diego is a good driver, the competition is there in the championship. I had a bit of oversteer but the car still felt good."
Before the stops, Vincenzo Tirella, Sergio Rota and Smurra had scrapped for third but once all the pit-stops shook out, Smurra was at the head of the fight, and caught Gay within a lap. Gay fell much further back, eventually finishing 10th.
Meanwhile, ex-British GT racer Rob Wilson had taken over Frank Mountain's car and charged through the frontrunning pack. Third looked like the best he could manage but a mistake by Rota allowed him to snatch second under braking at Vale on the final lap. Rota and Tirella were third and fourth, a long way ahead of Della Monica, who had run as high as third after the stops but succumbed to the pressure put on by faster drivers.
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