A 9th and a retirement are the modest harvest for Joel Camathias in the fifth round of the Italian GT Championship, held at Vallelunga. On the track near Rome, the Swiss pair of Autorlando Sport formed by the Lugano-born and Zurich-native Mauro Calamia was not in a position to repeat the good results of the previous rounds, partly because of set-up issues with the Porsche 911 R, partly because of race incidents.

In race-2, with Camathias at the wheel in the final stint, the 9th position obtained was somehow frustrating, as an intervention of the safety-car during the pit stops and small contact prevented a much better result. In race-2, few laps from the finish, Calamia ‘stmbled’ on debris left on the track by two other cars that had collided, and could not avoid going off-track.

The next stop of the Italian GT is at Misano Adriatico on 26-27 September.

Joel Camathias:

“A weekend to forget, certainly below expectations. We were a little bit unlucky, with the safety-car, a small contact and the debris left by others on the track, but it is also true that we couldn’t find the right set-up. Vallelunga is definitely not a track liked by our 911! The good news is that, despite all that, we were always running in the top ten, in a series so crowded and well-attended. We’ll take our revenge in Misano!”