GTO: Marco Frezza Brands Hatch summary

Fireproof

It was a very hot Sunday, really, in Brands Hatch for Marco Frezza. In the two races of the English International GT open event, exceptionally both held on the same day, the driver from Milan ended twice with his Ferrari 430 GT2 of the Kessel Racing team, which he shares with Portuguese Pedro Couceiro, on fire along the track.

The weekend began in the best way, during Saturday's qualifying. "In the session in which I drove, the one which decided race 1 starting grid, I took the second time, just three tenths behind the poleman," Marco explains. "Also at the start of the race I was able to stay in the second place and for the first twenty minutes I kept myself close to the leader Ortelli, with nobody behind me."

"For sure I would have gone first at the pit stop," he goes on, "as the French had to pay his 30-seconds time penalty during his stop." Instead, a few moments before entering the pits, the TV director showed his Ferrari stopped along the track on fire, forcing the marshalls to use the extinguisher. No harm for the driver, but a lot of pity: "It was a pneumatic valve failure, which sent the oil to the hot exhausts, which immediately took fire."

Among all the weekends when such a problem could happen, the Brands Hatch one was surely the worst, given the little time between the two races for the mechanics to repair the car. "But the Kessel Racing team men did an incredible job and were able to put the car back on track in race-2," Frezza underlines.

Unfortunately, even in the second race, with his team-mate driving, bad luck hit again and Marco's car was forced to stop again on fire. "This time it was not the pneumatic valve," he comments. "We actually still don't know what happened, but the mechanics will analyse the car in the next few days to be sure it won't happen again."

There is little to say to comment a weekend when Frezza could take the lead of the GTS category and instead he is now eight points behind the leader Dayrauld (64 v 56): "I only want to thank the team and the mechanics once again for their incredible job. For sure it's a pity, because, given our opponents' difficult times as well, we could have gained some points. But this is racing..."

-source: 422race.com