MATTEO CRESSONI’S GREAT COMEBACK IS NOT ENOUGH TO REACH THE PODIUM

The fourth round of the European Le Mans Series championship (ELMS) took place today on the Catalan circuit of Montmeló, near Barcelona. Typically summer temperatures, with +30°C which heated the 4.675 meters of the track, bringing the asphalt to a scorching +50°C. A demanding race for engines and drivers, therefore. But a great race by MAK-sponsored driver Matteo Cressoni and the Iron Lynx Team, whose Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #60 proved to be very fast and performing despite the 30 kg of ballast imposed by the regulations to balance performance with the rival cars.

Not even the time to put away the flag of the start that a couple of collisions decreed the immediate entry on the track of the « safety car ». Thirteen minutes of controlled pace and the race truly began. Excellent conduct of Claudio Schiavoni, the first driver of the three to drive the car for an hour and able to recover some positions after starting from the fifth row. A few minutes before his “pit stop”, a collision with a prototype car forced the Ferrari #60 into the pits to replace a side door, losing a total of about 30 seconds.

At that point the comeback was in the hands of Matteo Cressoni, who in the two hours of his driving shift managed to enter the fight for the podium positions. The last hour was committed to Davide Rigon, but despite his speed the dynamics of the rival cars prevailed, relegating the Ferrar #60 to the final 6th place, just 12 seconds from the third step of the podium. Surely without contact with the prototype car we would have seen another race and probably the Iron Lynx Team could have celebrated at least third place.

“We started penultimate, in 10th place on the grid. Claudio Schiavoni drove very well, bad luck for the contact with another prototype car that made us waste time »– declared Matteo Cressoni –« Despite the 30 kg of ballast, which slowed us down by about 4 tenths per lap, the car was very good, the podium was within our reach. All in all we are happy with the performance. Now all that remains is to wait for the appeal sentence on Thursday 1 September regarding the revocation of our victory in Monza on 3 July ».

The ELMS championship will resume hostilities on the weekend of 25 September in Belgium, in Spa-Francorchamps, where the weather conditions will almost certainly be antithetical to those encountered here in Barcelona. Matteo Cressoni’s next engagement at the steering wheel of Team Iron Lynx’s Ferrari 488 GTE Evo #60 will be on the weekend of 11 September in Japan, at the Fuji circuit, with the fifth round of the WEC (World Endurance Championship). However, the 37-year-old driver from Mantua will be busy as early as the upcoming weekend on the Imola (BO) track for the third round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship with Team Antonelli Motorsport’s Mercedes AMG GT3.