2014 Class-1 Italian Grand Prix at Terracina

Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella produced a breath taking performance to take their first win together in C1 at the team’s home Grand Prix, with Aquasport’s Daniel Cramphorn and Nico Huybens producing a totally dominant performance to win in V1.

Lining up in first and second at the start, Victory and LFF10 delivered a sensational opening lap with Fendi and Carpitella stealing the advantage from the pole-sitters immediately and leading them to the first turn, then holding them off in a nail biting run to the start-finish line as the two closed on each other and just inches apart going into turn one of lap 2, LFF10 coming out in front.

From that point LFF10 were able to maintain the upper hand, the gap between them fluctuating as they took their long laps. LLF10 was eight seconds clear by lap 7 when the defending World Champions and race 1 winners suddenly slowed to a crawl, Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi limping round for two laps before retiring from the race with a broken drop box.

For the remaining seven laps Fendi and Carpitella were out on their own and after 25 races together delivered the victory they had been waiting for, taking the chequered flag to win by over 30 seconds. “It was an amazing race for us and we won it with a great start and to win at home is an incredible feeling. Today we showed that Fendi and Victory are at the same level,” said Luca Fendi. “We gave respect to them at the first turn and left them space. They came out on the inside with a bit more speed but we pulled it back and were side-by-side and Giovanni said to me, just go for the corner.”

With Victory side-lined the fight for second place was between Relekta-Zabo-Isiklar and Abu Dhabi who traded place behind the leaders. Ugur Isik and Christian Zaborowski passed Abu Dhabi on lap 3 and held them off until lap 7 when they conceded position, and after the next six laps and with a 20 second advantage it looked as though Gary Ballough and John Tomlinson were on course for a second podium, but on the final lap Abu Dhabi slowed after running out fuel, Relekta-Zabo-Isiklar gifted second place.

Third place went to Guido Cappellini and Mikhail Kitashev in New Star-Poliform, running in fifth for eight laps but taking advantage of the retirees ahead of them to take their third podium of the year, with outgoing European Champions Miles Jennings and Alfredo Amato finishing fourth.

After seeing victory slip from their grasp yesterday Aquasport’s Daniel Cramphorn and Nico Huybens made up for it today, going quickest in qualifying this morning and delivering an emphatic start-to-finish victory over Chaudron and Tommy One. “No gremlins for us today, it was a perfect race,” said driver Daniel Cramphorn. “When you get out front you can run the race you want, take the turns how you want. We had no traffic to worry about after our early battle with Chaudron, and the boat ran perfectly. This win is for Mike Fiore.”

Second place after yesterday’s retirement was enough for Aaron Chiantar and Dominique Martini to clinch the V1 European Championship, with another retiree from race 1 Tommy One rewarded after a late night working on the boat, Maurizio Schepici and Stefano Bonanno moving up from the back of the field to take third. “We didn’t have the best set-up today and Aquasport was very quick so we knew that we just had to get round in second to win the title which we are very happy with.” said Aaron Chiantar.

Karelpiu’s Antonio and Giuseppe Schiano, another team to work late into the night on repairs, held off a race long challenge from Bernico-New Star to take fourth, with Silverline, who had been running in third, finishing sixth after a spin out.

Class-one Results

UIM class one fan views at the ILBC