Italy: Faggioli wins, Faustini struggles 🎥

Car Speedy TV cut together impressive scenes of the day's winner Simone Faggioli's driving from the practice and race runs.

Mountain races like the Salita del Costo in the Italian province of Veneto, which was held for the 29th time last weekend, are always associated with a risk in terms of weather at such an early time of year. Snow promptly fell on Saturday during the first practice run, so that the drivers of racing sports cars had to make do with a single test run in the afternoon on a track dried with salt.

Ten hairpin bends over ten kilometers
A handicap for newcomers like Robin Faustini from Switzerland. He was therefore only able to drive the 9.9-kilometer long and demanding mountain race track with its ten hairpins near Cogolle del Cengio north of the big city of Vicenza at a brisk pace once instead of twice before the only race run. After a freezing night, the weather on Sunday was at least nice and the conditions ideal except for the asphalt temperatures.

Almost everything new at Reynard
However, an absolute top time in the circle of the experienced Italians was less in the foreground for the young man from Suhr. In the team of Fausto Bormolini and Renzo Napione, who are known from their regular appearances at the Swiss European Championship race in the Jura, Faustini had his Reynard K01 modified in many points over the past months.

After a test drive on a circuit, the many innovations were to be tried out on the mountain for the first time. The three-liter race car converted from an original F3000 or Nippon to an E2 single seater is now similar in style to the cars of Bormolini and Napione. It is now also not dissimilar to the Lola of Swiss champion Eric Berguerand.

Robin Faustini: "All the engine electronics have been redone, plus completely new aerodynamics and design to take advantage of the regulations. For example, the vehicle length, larger wings, a new underbody and different brakes. Thanks to rockers on the steering wheel, I can now shift faster and steer more safely."

These are the rules of the game in Italy
Apart from the stalled engine at the start, the practice run did not go badly. In the race run shortly after noon, the Aargauer was on his way to the eighth or ninth best time according to official stops, before a serious accident shortly before the finish irritated him.

Robin Faustini: "In the final meters there were double waved flags because there was debris everywhere from a competitor who had crashed a few cars in front of me. I thought I really had to stop now instead of simply passing other stationary cars as I had done before. My mistake, that's just the way it is in Italy."

Note: Due to the track length of certain hill climbs, there are no run repeats in Italy. Drivers are only warned with yellow flags and thus asked to assess the situation carefully.

Confidence for Swiss hill climb
Despite the disappointing result under a distant second (89th), the SM third of 2019 also took positive things home to Suhr. This makes him confident for the Swiss mountain championship that will hopefully start sometime this summer.

Robin Faustini: "The team has done a mega job, together we have developed a very fast car. There is still detail work to be done, but we should be able to drive far in front. Although I haven't driven on the mountain for a year and a half, the speed is still there."

Unbeatable Simone Faggioli
The race counted as the northern Italian mountain trophy and attracted more than 160 drivers with historic and modern racing cars. As expected, twelve-time European champion Simone Faggioli did not show any weakness at the start of the season.

Driving the Norma M20 Bardahl FC, an E2 sports car with a Zytek V8 engine, the multi-champion pulverized his own track record from 2017. With 3:59.55, the Florentine was the first driver to stay under four minutes. Perennial rival Christian Merli was not at the start.

Diego Degasperi, who like Faggioli started 2019 in St-Ursanne, finished second overall, ten seconds behind in the Osella FA30, as the winner of the race car group. Faustini's teammates Bormolini and Napione scored 5th and 7th places.

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