FRANCO GIANOTTI TROPHY FOR CONSTRUCTORS 1/24TH

AALST, MAY 6-8, 2005 (B) - Click here for 2004 edition

NOVIELLO & "PIKI" VAN ROSSEM WIN IT ALL

Youri van Rossem best youngster, Triginelli best amateur

This year the Franco Gianotti Trophy went over three races with classic cars. There were separate standings for Experts, Youngsters and Amateurs. The three rounds were also decicive for the Constructors World Championship. Two constructors were present to prepair their cars (Andreas Fehn and Thomas Spicker), but were already home before the start of the first round. Extremely motivated to win the Constructor's Trophy were Matthias Parke, Tamar Nelwan, Dieter Jens, Nick de Wachter and Pit Schwaar. The last named, who prepaired excellent cars for Gilles Dohogne and Yves Welter jr was extremely disappointed that both didn(t show without the smallest warning. At the real last minute it was decided that Youri - already team mate of Nick de Wachter among the youngsters - should drive one car, and that Robby Cuppens should drive the other. Alyhough they did great - Youri won among the GT cars with Schwaar's Ferrari Daytona at the first round, beating Michael Niemas (!), and Robby realised the pole position at the third round - none of them has the talent of Yves Welter jr. So Pit Schwaar lost from Matthias Parke and Tamar Nelwan in the Constructors Championship. It was unanimously decided that Yves Welter jr and Gilles Dohogne will no longer invited at international IMCA races.

The three rounds were dominated by the Ferraris of "Piki" and Noviello, finishing at the three rounds as winner. Among the experts there was only opposition from the cars driven by Kivekäs/Malangone, Parke/Riehl, Parke/Korec and Jens/Mertens. Much more opposition, however, came from the cars driven by the youngsters, especially those of Nick de Wachter/Youri van Rossem, Michael Niemas/Kevin Krollmann, Andreas Laufenberg/Christian Schnitzler and Antónin Vojtik/Miroslav Vadlejch. Eventually Piki/Noviello collected among the experts the maximum of points: 60. Kivekäs/Malangone came second with 24 points, Josef Korec third with 18 points and Parke/Riehl fourth with 17 points. Then followed Nelwan/Inäbnit as fifth experts and Jens/Mertens as sixth experts. JPVR/Dan Debella collected only points in the last round. Due to computer errors they were ranked in the last round two ranks lower than what they effectively did. Especially Dan Debella - having no more raced since 17 years - achieved a great performance in this last round. Disappointing were the results obtained by Reyes/Torres and Hood/Radisich. Of that last named team Radisich was fast, but Fred had the whole week end problems to find the correct rythm, because on a track as the one used, rythm is all what it is about. Since Noviello qualified in the last round faster than Piki, he was ranked first among the experts, Piki second, Malangone third and Kivekäs fourth.

Among the youngsters Nick de Wachter/Youri van Rossem were second overall in the first round, third overall in the second and the third round. Especially in the last round there was a gruelling combat between them and the tiny Chevron-Mazda of Niemas/Krollmann. That little Chevron was wonderfully prepared by Niemas and caused a real stir. Nick/Youri collected 42 points over the three races, Niemas/Kroll-mann 38 points. Danmark's young Christian Høfler caused a stir by finishing among the youngsters in third position (with 32 points). Youri, who had to drive in all rounds with two cars - due to the absence of Yves Welter jr/Gilles Dohogne - collected another 30 points with his Ferrari Daytona (GT winner in the two first races). In the last race Pit Schwaar made the mistake to give his fastest AAW Porsche 917 to Robby Cuppens (who realised a splendid pole with it at the qualifications) and his much slower Ferrari 512S to Youri. Nevertheless Youri finished ahead of Robby, but not in the points at that last race. Andreas Laufenberg and Christian Schnitzler (an exellent youngster!) finished at the fifth place among the youngsters, ahead over Vojtik and Vadlejch. Colin Herzig - announced as America's wonderboy - disappointed. Only at the last round we saw that he has talent.

Among the amateurs Bruno di Dotto, Gert Klinge, and Francesc Reyes had the handicap that they had to compete with the experts, so that they failed to collect points. That was not the case for Henrik Hasager (DK) and Marcello Triginelli (BR) who were involved in a continuous battle for the title of Amateur's World Champion. Everything was decided in the last round. Initially Hasager was a strong leader, ahead over Triginelli, but after a couple of deslottings of the Danish racer, Triginelli succeeded - not without problems - to pass Hasager. During the 10 last segments we witnessed a splendid combat between the two. Eventually Triginelli won with less than two laps advantage, taking the title. David Lahoz of Spain caused a surprise by finishing as third amateur, ahead of John Emmons (USA), Mack de Wachter (NL) and Paul Heath (NZ). Especially Mack had serious problems with his cars, prepared by Thomas Spicker. In his first race he lost both front wheels, in his second the motor came off and in his third he had to retire with motor problems. Of all Slotvisions at the start, only those raced by Josef Korec (among the experts) and by Niemas/Kroll-mann (in a Dieter Jens configuration) were really competitive. The fact that Thomas was no longer there to help his racers may explain it all.

Among the Amateurs Brazil's Marcello Triginelli (mid), who entered his real first model car event, won ahead over Henrik Hasager (DK) and the surprising David Lahoz (E). So Triginelli is the new amateur's world champion and successor of Gabriel Inäbnit (CH).

 FINAL RANKING F. GIANOTTI TROPHY (May 6-8)

Racers

Constructor

Chassis

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

17th BENELUX TROPHY: F. GIANOTTI ROUND #1 (May 6-7)