Round 3 - San Marino (Imola) |
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SEMI-PRO SERIES
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| 1996/97 Pole Position: | 1:19.177 (Marcel Offermans) |
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| 1996/97 Race Time: | 0h45m02.054 (Marcel Offermans) |
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| Race Distance: | 31 laps |
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Mathieu Dhondt and Barry West had their first appearance in the Semi-Pro
series at Imola. It should be mentioned that San Marino 1997/98 is the
first Semi-Pro event where the field was so big that some drivers didn't
gain points in qualifying. With now 14 competitors, the Semi-Pro series
has grown to a remarkable size and the fact that the competition is not
only big but also close, satisfies the IAF1GPC administration :-)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Points
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| 1. | David Zasitko | S.RS Turbo | 1:17.340 | | 20
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| 2. | Gary Leighton | S.RS Turbo | 1:17.365 | +0.025 | 16
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| 3. | Matthew Garrett | Team AP | 1:17.556 | +0.216 | 14
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| 4. | Giacomo Licciardello | Mopar | 1:17.652 | +0.312 | 12
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| 5. | James Caygill | Team AP | 1:17.663 | +0.323 | 10
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| 6. | Mathieu Dhondt | Exhaust Hype | 1:17.677 | +0.337 | 8
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| 7. | Gavin Mclean | GJM Racing | 1:18.020 | +0.680 | 6
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| 8. | Christian Tavlaridis | Dick Dastardly Racing | 1:18.106 | +0.766 | 5
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| 9. | Chris Andrews | FraewTraew | 1:18.205 | +0.865 | 4
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| 10. | Paul Branney | Dick Dastardly Racing | 1:19.309 | +1.969 | 3
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| 11. | Garry McCandless | GJM Racing | 1:19.403 | +2.063 | 2
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| 12. | Barry West | Bazzer | 1:19.913 | +2.573 | 1
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| 13. | Ron Vance | Mopar | 1:20.666 | +3.326 |
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| 14. | Olivier Leroy | Cyber-Speed | 1:20.824 | +3.484 |
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Unlike the Ace event, the top positions in the Semi-Pro race weren't
awarded before the last lap. The first 14 laps were dominated by Giacomo
Licciardello, but his lead was at no point bigger than 10 seconds. Gavin
McLean and Gary Leighton were closing the gap and passed the leading Mopar
driver in lap 15. After Gavin and Gary made their stops, Gary was leading
the race and his team mate was battling for 2nd with Giacomo and Matthew
Garrett. Gavin fell back in the last third of the race and even lost 5th
place in the very last lap to Christian Tavlaridis. In the last laps it
looked like Matthew would be able close the gap to the leading GJM driver,
he decreased the gap from 20 seconds in lap 27 to 8 seconds in lap 30 but
a fastest lap at the end secured Gary another victory.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Points
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| 1. | Gary Leighton | S.RS Turbo | 43m09.109 | | 180
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| 2. | Matthew Garrett | Team AP | 43m18.277 | +0:09.168 | 170
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| 3. | Giacomo Licciardello | Mopar | 43m30.369 | +0:21.260 | 165
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| 4. | David Zasitko | S.RS Turbo | 43m36.789 | +0:27.680 | 160
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| 5. | Christian Tavlaridis | Dick Dastardly Racing | 43m37.939 | +0:28.930 | 155
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| 6. | Gavin Mclean | GJM Racing | 43m41.453 | +0:32.344 | 151
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| 7. | Mathieu Dhondt | Exhaust Hype | 44m01.019 | +0:51.910 | 147
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| 8. | Chris Andrews | FraewTraew | 44m34.125 | +1:25.016 | 143
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| 9. | James Caygill | Team AP | 44m43.040 | +1:33.931 | 139
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| 10. | Ron Vance | Mopar | 45m58.942 | +2:49.833 | 135
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| 11. | Olivier Leroy | Cyber-Speed | 21 laps | (67.7%) | 89
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| 12. | Garry McCandless | GJM Racing | 16 laps | (51.6%) | 66
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| Pos | Car | Driver | Fastest Lap | LL/TL | Pitstops | Avg.
Grip | Tyre Usage
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| Time | Lap # | Stops | Avg. Length | C | D
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| 1. | 13 | G.Leighton | 1:18.974 | 31 | 20/31 | 2 | 0:15.072 | 93 | | 31
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| 2. | 3 | M.Garrett | 1:19.083 | 26 | 0/31 | 1 | 0:16.493 | 93 | | 31
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| 3. | 43 | G.Licciardello | 1:19.958 | 27 | 10/31 | 0 | | 92 | | 31
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| 4. | | D.Zasitko | logfile missing
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| 5. | 0 | C.Tavlaridis | 1:19.487 | 29 | 0/31 | 1 | 0:23.525 | 93 | | 31
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| 6. | 32 | G.McLean | 1:20.976 | 28 | 1/31 | 0 | | 92 | | 31
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| 7. | 9 | M.Dhondt | 1:20.751 | 8 | 0/31 | 0 | | 92 | | 31
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| 8. | 17 | C.Andrews | 1:20.913 | 28 | 0/31 | 0 | | 92 | | 31
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| 9. | 4 | J.Caygill | 1:19.660 | 30 | 0/31 | 1 | 0:41.381 | 93 | | 31
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| 10. | 44 | R.Vance | 1:20.227 | 30 | 0/31 | 3 | 0:36.859 | 93 | | 31
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| 11. | 27 | O.Leroy | 1:24.727 | 19 | 0/21 | 1 | 0:48.068 | 93 | 5 | 16
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| 12. | 31 | G.McCandless | 1:22.024 | 15 | 0/16 | 2 | 0:54.169 | 93 | | 16
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Gary Leighton (S.RS Turbo), Race winner:
"A few practice races showed that I would have problems during the real
race because of slow CC's. But to my surprise and as mentioned in the imola
preview this is a track for CC's to crash out and they did! Thankfully it
was during the earlier stages enabling me to take full advantage of the
clear track in front of me. I was getting good quick times, maybe pitted a
little late since I was storming towards the end of the race, despite a few
poor laps when I fell victim to that nasty chicane."
Gary McCandless (GJM Racing), 12th:
"I had a nice start, pulled away from the pack at a good pace. Needed to a
new front end by lap 8 then again on lap 9. Started to catch up with the
leaders getting up into 4th. Then a young man by the name of Damon Hill
tried to out brake me, instead he just pushed me of the track into another
car. Race over, bad day at the office."
Last modified: Sunday 07 December 1997 - 10:39