Neumann title defence on with Semi win

Qualifying only 14th, Joern Neumann’s defence of his IFMAR 1:8 GT World Championship title is still on after the Sworkz driver took victory in the first of the Semi Finals in Sydney.  Starting from sixth on the grid, Neumann worked his way to the front chasing down the Serpent of pole sitter Jeff Hamon.  With no fuel stops allowed before 7-minutes, when Hamon and Neumann pitted they would both suffer flame outs.  On the second stop, Hamon was in earlier than Neuman but once again flamed out something the Australian would suffer on all his stops.  With a clean second stop for Neumann, this would give him a lead he would not give up.  Starting from the pitlane after a problem in the warm-up, Italian Gabriele Paloschi would get past his Serpent team-mate to finish second, the Top 3 securing their spot in the 1-hour Main event.  Unfortunately for Peter Jovanovic, having run second for the opening 5-minutes, he ran was over when he stripped a gear on his Capricorn.

The second Semi final provided plenty of drama starting with Andrea Catanzani suffering a flame out that in normal terms would have ended any drivers hopes of progress.  Losing almost 2-laps, the young Italian charged back to the front with a new lap record as his engine tuner Giovanni Crea from Gimar signalled his pace was too much.  With Genius Racing’s Bernard-Alain Arnaldi leading for 2/3 of the race despite flame outs on all his fuel stops, once Catanzani got by the Frenchman he backed off the pace but even still lapped the entire field taking the chequered flag right on the bumper of second placed Arnaldi.  Despite a broken rear diff, Xray’s Natanaele Senesi competed the Top 3.  With the grid for the final at the John Grant International Raceway completed the drivers with the fastest to race times outside the top 3, it was great to see Michael Stone, a key figure in making these World Championship happen, book his place in the Worlds most important race along with fellow Aussie and Xray driver Ari Bakla.

Summing up his performance in the Semi Final, Neumann said, ‘it was good.  I just kept it safe for the first 7-minutes and after that pushed a little and once I got up to second I just managed it to the end.’  Looking to the final he continued, ‘we will make a small adjustment for the final and hopefully the car will be even better.  One hour is very long and anything can happen we have a good car.’  It was interesting to see Neumann and Hamon comparing tyres at the of the final, Neumann looking to have better wear.  Hamon, who is not sure of the reason for his flame-outs, which kept his pit crew extra busy, said his car was ‘average’ and watched the performance of the others will change bodyshell for the final.

Asked about his race, Catanzani said, ‘the start was crazy.  After the flame out I have to push a little bit but in the end it was all good’.  Posting a 17.534 lap time, he said, ‘the car is like perfect now’.  Asked what caused the flame out, he said, ‘I drive a little slow for the first minute and the engine got cold which changed the tune.’  He continued, ‘For the final I will just do maintanence on the car, charge the battery and then we are good to go.’