Sponsors of the Auto-Italia Championship 2000 - 2003

Round 3 - Mallory Park 24th April 2000

Stirring Stuff

A great race with plenty of action right through the field entertained spectators at Mallory Park on Easter Monday. The short, but deceptively fast circuit allowed the faster cars to stretch their legs. Enzo Buscaglia, despite winning again, had to work hard for the laurels.

Qualifying

Qualifying threw up a number of questions as it was interrupted by Stuart Barrington-Hall shortening his Maserati against the bank on the exit of Gerards. Overall, John Avery celebrated his return to the series by taking pole with his Ferrari 355C ahead of another returnee, Oliver Heynes' Fiat Strada turbo, these two taking first and second in Class A. Danny Wright underlined his form by taking his JS Alfa 156 to third fastest overall beating both the Alfa V6s of Paul Buckley and Enzo Buscaglia. John Rutter was also back with his Stratos but suffered gear selection problems.

Gary Lucas' Alfasud took the Class B pole from Giovanni di Gennaro's Fiat 128 whilst Ian Connell annexed Class C from Ron Davidson's ever improving Alfa GTV. John Avery put Class D out of reach of Brian Thorp by 5 seconds and Graham Warner was well up in his Class E Alfa 33 as usual with Derek Jones' similar car 1 second back.

Race

Out of the 28 starters, there were 13 different models of Italian car for the public to watch doing battle round this quick track with a hairpin to test the cars' brakes.

The opening laps were dominated by the sight and glorious sound of the Fiat 128 of Giovanni di Gennaro screaming round in the lead before being overcome by the heavy metal from behind. Undaunted though, he clung onto third overall well clear of class B contender Gary Lucas. Could poleman Avery convert his position into a win, though? At first it looked as if he might until Enzo Buscaglia took advantage of a gap on the inside at Devil's Elbow to burst through into first place, holding it to the flag. Ian Connell did his stuff to take Class C just 4 seconds in front of Ron Davidson. Brian Thorp just finished in the top ten to outdistance second Class D runner Ray Foley, whilst Graham Warner went one better to ninth overall for the Class E win followed home by Lee Penn's trusty Alfasud Sprint.

There's just about enough time to refuel and check the tyres before Castle Combe in less than a week!

(Stop Press: Sadly, Ian Connell's Alfa was written off in the Alfa race later in the day. See the Gossip/Forum page for the story.)

( Race Conditions - Cloudy / Dry )

Fastest Laps

Click here for 2000 final points table