Italia: Gianmarco Raimondo Vallelunga summary

GIANMARCO RAIMONDO: F3 ITALIA VALLELUNGA REPORT

Canadian open wheel racer bounces back from Saturday contact to score top ten on Sunday

St. Catharines, Ontario - Gianmarco Raimondo, Canadian formula car racer, completed an up and down weekend of competition in the Italian Formula 3 series. The race at Vallelunga marked the sixth event in the eight weekend series, which will return to the Mugello Circuit and then end the season at the famous Monza Circuit, home of the 2010 Italian Formula One Grand Prix. The Lucidi Motorsports driver is very up beat and well prepared to take the on tough battles as his rookie season comes to a close. Raimondo would run well in both timed practice sessions in the 26-car field setting the fourteenth quickest time followed by the fifthteenth quickest lap. In timed qualifying Raimondo would move up nicely setting the eleventh fastest time for the race one grid and matching that for the race two grid.

"Our qualifying strategy didn't go according to plan. The session started with the track somewhat wet, so we had to anticipate the weather," commented Raimondo. "Unfortunately we didn't properly time the track condition with when the tires were their best. We put our tires on too early because we thought it was going to rain at the end of the session, however instead it dried up and the last five laps were one second a lap faster."

In race one Raimondo would see contact early as the field stacked up heading through corner one with Raimondo sandwiched in between two other cars after the first corner and could do absolutely nothing to avoid the circumstance. The contact would force Raimondo to retire with suspension damage placing him in 23rd place in the final standings. Shaking off a tough race, Raimondo headed in Sundays race action ready to charge forward. Off the start Gmo was able to get through the ensuing traffic jam unscathed. He held his position as the mid pack field battled hard for position. At the line it Raimondo scoried his second top ten result of the season crossing in the tenth position and scoring championship points along with valuable Rookie points.

"The second race was much better and a lot more fun. It was a race where I really had to fight for my positions on the first lap and use all of my racing experience to overcome the situations I was in," continues Raimondo. "During the race I managed to score some fast laps and keep pressure on the experienced drivers ahead of me; bringing the car home in the points."

Raimondo will head to the Mugello Circuit as he prepares for the official test on the 28th of September. Always looking forward and positive to the next event, keeping track on all the tasks at hand the F3 rookie is looking to make a final push in the closing two rounds on the season.

"I believe this test will be one of my better tests at Mugello, having raced and tested here earlier this year will give me a better understanding of the track's characteristics," states the 19-year-old. "The race will be more or less the same as the last weekend, in that there won't be a whole lot of passing due to the lack of aerodynamics in behind another car.

With four points scoring races left over the remaining two race weekends, Raimondo is focused and understands his primary objectives.

"For the most part, the main objective for this next race weekend will be qualifying, so I'm sure we will be analyzing how the track behaves throughout the day to get somewhat of a good reading. I think the track surface and characteristics will be different in this race because the temperature is going to be much colder and the cars racing before us will have different rubber than last time," continues Gmo. "In the end my goals are to gain as many rookie points as possible and to learn as much as possible from everyone and everything."

Drivers will take to the track starting on Friday for the seventh weekend being held at the Mugello Circuit October 10th for rounds 13 and 14.

-source: gianmarcoraimondo.com