The final round of the Time Attack Italia championship was an anticipated one as not only is it my home track but with additional power options it would improve my chances of finally achieving a win in my class. The weather and temperature were incredible; 25C for early November was hard to believe and the sun didn’t stop shining all day.
Throughout the day I parked up in the JDMilano Squad area, with the addition of a new sticker on the car. Their attendance to meets, events and weekly gatherings is always incredible to see; a lot of passion there. The whole pit area in fact was remarkably busy and was easily the most popular event of the year, with people filling up a few of the open grand stands.
The track was of course almost perfect from the off in the morning, only a couple of areas damp from the shade provided by the Monza forest. With only 2 sessions before the superlap for this event it didn’t leave you much time to get ready so it was necessary to push from the start.
The competition in the RWD Club was as fierce as ever, with fastest times being swapped by all 4 of us throughout both morning sessions. It was impossible to say who would come out on top after the superlap! I finished the qualifying session in 3rd, but had been running my street boost setting.
In the end managed to clinch 2nd place, but was only 0.04s behind! And 3rd was only 0.2 behind me. 2:18.620 was the best time from me, improving by over 10 seconds from the last time I ran here. The competition in the class really couldn’t be any tighter which has made it incredibly fun, not only for this round, but throughout the year.
Final Standings:
1. 2:18.578 – Jacopo Battisti
2. 2:18.620 – Balang Project
3. 2:18.800 – Riccardo Calcaterra
4. 2:19.900 – Giuliana Andrea
The whole championship, despite me only attending 5 of the 8 rounds, has been incredibly fun and I really have to hand it to the organisers for putting together an awesome championship in just 2 years, and making it astonishingly popular already.
Next year the classes are going to be refined and I will likely end up with tough competition, so there are big plans for the Great Danton to allow it to keep up!
So, the car will be out of action for a few months and I will sure miss driving it, but I hope it will be worth it!