Mugello, Italy – The fourth round of the Italian GT Championship in Mugello could have been the turning point of the 2015 Solaris Motorsport season, that in Tuscany showed a great potential, improving its performances session by session. Unfortunately, once again, two race facts ruined the #22 Corvette weekend, very close to the podium in Race 1 and not started in the Sunday race due to a technical failure.

In a season where is fundamental take advantage of each km to gain experience, the Solaris Motorsport guys used the two free practice sessions in order to try different setup settings, especially for the race. Marcello Puglisi, on his second race with the #22 Corvette, was forced to jump the FP1 due a red flag, that stopped the session in the middle when the Italian driver was just exited from the pits. So, Puglisi had to take confidence with the tricky track – he didn’t race in Tuscany by 9 years – only during the FP2. The red flag was again protagonist during the Q1, stopped two times. Unfortunately, the stop is arrived twice when Sini was on his qualifying lap, so Ringhio lost the choice to set his best time with new tires and he was only P14 at he end. In Q2, Puglisi tried a new setup and he gained the 16th on the grid with times very close to his team mate.

The things seemed going better in the first race of the weekend. At the start, taking advantage from his powerful Corvette engine, Sini was able to conquer four positions and he turned at the San Donato bend in P10. Lap by lap, the black Corvette kept to gain positions, until the P6 before the pit stop. When the pit stop window opened, with a perfect strategy the team took advantage to the safety car period – entered to permit to the marshalls to clean the track by the debris – to do the mandatory stop and permit to Puglisi to jump in P2. At the restart on lap 13, the Italian driver tried to attack the leader of the race at the first turn, but unfortunately, his dreams of glory ended just few bends after, when the Mapelli’s Audi tried badly to overtake him. The German car pushed out the Corvette and was penalized, the American coupè was forced to comeback from the rear and at the end was just P12 under the checkered flag. It was a pity, because the Corvette showed during the race the same pace of the drivers on top of the charts and, without the thirty seconds lost in the contact, Puglisi could have been at least in the podium-fighting group.



TThe good fate wasn’t with the Italian team neither in Race 2, where an unexpected technical failure has stopped Puglisi yet in the formation lap, ending a disappointing weekend for the Notaresco-based team. “It’s unbelievable, this year the bad seems to be our official supporter! During the qualifying session I was stopped twice by the red flag during my fast laps, on Saturday we could reach the podium but we were get out in the back. On Sunday, once again, I was not able to enter in the car.” commented Francesco Sini, sad about the race but satisfied for the performance in his Race 1 stint: “Until the contact with Mapelli it was the perfect race! Started from P14, we were P2 behind the safety car. We showed our potential with great lap times, then it’s gone how is gone. We are very disappointed, now we have to transform this bad emotions in the right power to arrive in Vallelunga in the best shape we can.” ended Sini, that in March test session signed lap times very close to the track record with the the Corvette.

“Really, I don’t what telling, it’s incredible. In Race 1 the car was very competitive, I had all the race long the pace of the best drivers and I could climb on the podium. I’d have liked to thanks my team and their work with a good results, we were so close to it!” commented Puglisi. “It’s a pity don’t be able to concretize the big potential of the car. As the same as Imola, also in Mugello we had the pace to reach the podium!” The next round of the Italian GT Championship is scheduled in Vallelunga on September, the 12th and 13th. “It’s a track in which we could point to a good result, the pre season in it test gave us good feeling and I keep to be confident.”

The Team Principal Roberto Sini analyzed the difficult moment of the team: “We are all disappointed, we expected much more from this race and we come back home with another zero in the standings. The Saturday performance, however, had showed we can be competitive and we can fight for the top positions. But, to do that, we must have weekend without this kind of troubles. Francesco and the team made an amazing job on Saturday, Marcello showed a great race pace but twice his race was ruined by events unrelated to him. We will use the summer break to prepare the Vallelunga race in the best way, hoping to have a weekend…trouble-free!”

Massimiliano Palumbo

Pescara, Italy – The fourth round of the Italian GT Championship is on the way for this weekend in Mugello, again with the impressive 39 cars grid. After the good performances and the bad luck shown in Imola, the Solaris Motorsport is ready to come back on top and in the Scarperia-based track the minimum goal of the team is the podium. Marcello Puglisi, debuted in Imola with the black #22 Corvette and now he wants to put on practice the experience gained 15 days ago: “In Imola I could lap a lot, I could take confidence with the car and now I can push harder. I removed the rust, in Mugello I know I have all I need to point on top of the charts!”

Francesco Sini, on his first GT full-season after winning the 2014 EuroV8 Series and the great experience in the Le Mans Series and in Radical Trophy, was protagonist in a upward year until now. Although he suffered some unforeseen during the first part of the season, he scored anyway a great Top5 in Imola qualifying and catched the podium in Monza.

Francesco, what do you think about your season’s start?
“It was quite complicated, but it was predictable. The GT world was an universe totally new for us and so we have needed of a bit time of apprenticeship at the beginning. With the right experience, in Monza and in Imola we found the way of competitivity and now we have the choice to battle for the podium in each race. We knew it was not going to be easy to fight on top and the high level of the Italian GT Championship made the things harder.”

After this first roll out, what is the main goal of the season?
“For sure I want to win a race with the Corvette before the end of the season. In Monza we were second on the finish line and we were very close to the winner, and also in Imola it wasn’t a so impossible goal. The guys at home are making an incredible work to give to me and Marcello a car always competitive.”

In the last years you raced ‘alone’, what does it change now in sharing the cockpit with your teammate?
“Racing with another driver is challenging because you have to work on your setup ideas to the ones of your teammate. It’s a very different way to setup the work, you must start thinking you have to share. It’s the same on track, you can not to push as you want because your teammates needs of the same car. You have to learn the right system, in the middle between what you want and that one your team mate wants. It’s tricky, but it’s nice and exciting comparing and to finding the right feeling with another driver. It’s a bigger teamplay.”

It isn’t your debut in the endurance, some years ago you raced and won with the sports car, how much of that experience is useful now with the GT?
“They were important years for me and my career, they learned me how to manage the car in long races like the Italian GT Championship’s. That experience granted me a great smattering, even if the driving style is completely different. On this point of view, the sports car are opposed to the GT.”



A 40 cars grid is a big show for the fans, but what does it mean for the drivers?
“It’s an amazing show…if you are on the grandstands! The main problem for the drivers is the traffic, especially during the qualifying it’s difficult to find a clean lap. In the races you have to find the right way with the many lapped cars as quickly as you can. A so big starting grid means trickier but more spectacular comebacks and the possibility to have many good drivers on track.”

The next round will be in Mugello, what do you expect?
“I want and I desire the podium. It will not be easy, our rivals are very strong but we showed we can stay with the fastest. Marcello gained the right experience in Imola and in Mugello he will be a fiery opponent for all. The track should be in favour with the Corvette, if we will have a perfect weekend, we will have the results we want!”

The weekend in Mugello of the Solaris Motorsport #22 Corvette will start on Friday on 11:25 AM with the FP1, the FP2 scheduled at 2.45 PM. Saturday will host the two qualifyng sessions on morning, at 10:20 and 11:25. The green flag for the Race 1 will be waved on Saturday at 5:50 PM, while the start of the Sunday race is scheduled at 11:05 AM. All the races will be live streamed on the Italian GT Championship web site.

Massimiliano Palumbo

Imola, Italy – Double face weekend for Solaris Motorsport in Imola, theater for the third round of the Italian GT Championship. The Italian Corvette showed a very competitive pace in any sessions with Marcello Puglisi and Francesco Sini who was able to set a great 5th place in the second round of qualifying. Such a great potential, unfortunately, wasn’t enough to defeat the bad luck: a guiltless Puglisi was forced to retire in Race 1 after a huge contact, while Sini suffered a puncture on Sunday Race when he was fifth and focused to catch the podium.

The good weekend of the #22 Solaris Motorsport Corvette started from the FP1, where the american coupè signed the fifth time, just 4 tenths far from the top. After an useful FP2 in which the team tested the car in some long runs, the intermediates of the qualifying put Puglisi easily in the Top 8, but twice the red flag stopped the Italian driver during his fast lap. So, at the end of the session with worn tyres, the #22 Corvette was only 11th for the Saturday Race grid. Francesco Sini has brought back the smiles into the team during the second qualifying session, where he was able to catch a great 5th time for the Sunday race.

Puglisi had a good start in the Saturday race, he was fighting for a good position in the Top 10 improving his pace lap by lap. His comeback dream was stopped on lap 5, when in Tamburello chicane the back of the Corvette was hit strongly by the Mercedes of Aidan Wright, arrived too fast at the brake point. Puglisi was forced to pass in the gravel and to retire some turns after, when a blown tyre – damaged in the contact – stopped the Z06R outside of the Acque Minerali bend.

Race 2 saw another great start for the Solaris Motorsport Corvette and Sini was able to keep in fifth position, trying to catch the podium. Unfortunately, once again a tyre puncture – probably due to a debris on track – stopped the dreams of glory of the Italian team. In a weird fate, again on lap 5 a blown tyre slowed the Corvette, forcing Sini to recover in the pits on the three wheels and change the damaged tyre. The American coupè came back on track lapped in 36th position and with a race totally to rebuild. Sini and Puglisi, entered during the mandatory pit stop, didn’t give up and they started a huge comeback, that brought the Corvette in the 22th position under the checkered flag.

“We had all the bad luck we could have this weekend, we hope to be par with the faith now! The expected results didn’t arrive, but the Corvette showed a great potential also in a curvy track like Imola.” commented Francesco Sini. He try to be optimistic: “I’m happy about Marcello, he found a great with feeling with the team and he was competitive early. He was the good surprise of the weekend!” Sini had also a though for his team, forced to work until Sunday late night to repair the Corvette damaged during Race 1: “The guys showed again their big hearth, working on the car with great professionality. I’d have liked to thank them with a good race result, but it wasn’t properly our weekend!”

On his debut on the Corvette GT3, also Marcello Puglisi had to split his thoughts between the satisfaction for the the good performances and the disappointment for the race events that slowed the Solaris Motorsport Z06R: “I’m definitely happy about the team, all my previous impressions were confirmed! It’s a great team and the showed it on Saturday night when they worked a lot on the car to give to me and Francesco again a competitive car! Amazing! – said the Trescore Balneario native driver – Unfortunately, we suffered bad luck all weekend long: I had two red flags during my both fast laps in qualifying…what i could do? During the race, I was hit without guilt. In qualifying session I could set a lap very close to the Francesco’s one and gain a position in the Top 8, but I had to sign my fastest lap with worn tyres and I lost the fourth row for few tenths. When we were out of trouble, anyway, we showed we can be competitive and so I’m confident for the next race. In Imola we gained experience and kilometers, now I want to put all in practice in Mugello!”

Roberto Sini, Solaris Motorsport Team Principal, is optimistic: “As English people are used to say, that’s racing! The most important thing is to have shown we can be competitive also in curvy track like this. Marcello was really good, he took few time to bring confidence with the Corvette and we has able to set good times early. He had quickly a good feeling with the team, the Corvette and…Francesco! On his side, Francesco gave the maximum, we could point on the podium in Race 2 but we suffered a puncture. By the way, this weekend gave us the awareness to be back on top and in Mugello we want to try to reach great results.”

Next round of the Italian GT Championship is scheduled in Mugello on July, the 11th and 12th, It’s an high speed track and he could be a circuit in favour to the American Coupè of the Solaris Motorsport.

Massimiliano Palumbo

Pescara, Italy – The third round of the Italian GT Championship will start this weekend in Imola, once again with an amazing 40 cars on the starting grid. The good performances shown in the latest pre-race test on the track near the Santerno river gave to the team a good feeling for the event.The Solaris guys are focused on replicating the podium they scored last time out in Monza.

Francesco Sini is ready to fight again for the top of the standings: “Monza was the race of our return, in Imola we want to stay up front again and I’m sure that Marcello will help us a lot in that.” Marcello Puglisi will share the Corvette cockpit with ‘Ringhio’ for the Imola event and in two following races in Mugello and Vallelunga. The Italian driver, also known by the fans as a Sky Sport commentator, tested the Solaris Motorsport American coupè on the Enzo and Dino Ferrari track, posting quickly lap times near Sini’s ones.

Marcello, how do you feel about the car?
“The engine was the part that surprised me more, the torque of the Corvette is simply amazing! It’s definitely the most vigorous engine I tried until now. You have wheelspin also on the high gears! I used the first laps of the test to know and take confidence with the car and its engine. The driving style is totally different from what I drove in the past, but the car handling is sincere, when it looses grip it does in a linear way, it warns you step by step. The rolling chassis of the Corvette Z06 surprised me a lot. It was a good start, once I used to the power, I clocked interesting chrono.”

How was your first day in the Solaris world?”
“I had a great feeling with the team from the beginning, they took care me as an old friend! The passion of the Sini family for racing is incredible! You realize it when you see the desire and the determination to do the best in any moment. I already knew some engineers, but in few times I was close to the rest of the team. You can feel the support from all the team, this will help all of us to give our best.”

You have a vast experience with single seaters, from the little F. Renault to the GP2 cars, through Formula 3 and F3000. How much of this experience helps you now in this new challenge?
“Oh well, it’s difficult to say. The driving style is totally different, it’s clear because the cars are on the opposite in that. So my experience isn’t a lot useful in that. Anyway, single seaters build your approach to a new thing, being it a car or a team. The formulas teach you how to feel and analyse the behaviour of the car and take the maximum from the engineers, finding the best setup. So, we can say that single seaters help you a lot ‘before’ and ‘after’ the race, while the feeling ‘during’ the race is completely different of course.”



You tested the car on the same track you will race this week end, what do you expect from your debut with the Solaris Motorsport Corvette?
“Imola isn’t the best track for our Corvette, but we can however aim at the top. The team works hard and, judging from what I saw during the test, I think we can have a good performance, it’s realistic to be in the Top 5.”

“Marcello showed he learns quickly with the Corvette and the times he posted confirmed it. The Z06R was competitive during the test of the last week, but it’s better not to do any forecast. The track is in favour of the cars with a great handling and the Vette has a lot of power. We will approach the race focusing on being fast and stay on top, but with the humility given from knowing we have to work hard in order to obtain results.” commented Roberto Sini, Solaris Motorsport team principal.

The two Imola races will be streamed live on the official Italian GT Championship web site www.acisportitalia.it/CIGT (http://www.acisportitalia.it/CIGT/live-streaming): Race 1 will start Saturday at 3.20 PM, while the green light for Race 2 is scheduled for Sunday at 11 AM. All the fans on track will have again the great opportunity to visit the paddock for free, with the chance to meet their idols and touch the cars.

Massimiliano Palumbo