Italian GT Mugello Friday Notebook: Traffic paradise, finding balance, and rising popularity

The first day at the Mugello Circuit in Tuscany is done and dusted. Behind fast laptimes was a lot of work to get the car in the right window for the endurance race on Sunday, while drivers also took time to enjoy it all. GT REPORT discusses the Friday of the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo (CIGT) with Vittorio Viglietti, Roberto Ravaglia and Felice Jelmini.

For Viglietti it was a pleasure to come back to Mugello, as he won the previous time around – during the Sprint weekend in July. He’s sharing the #22 Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Tresor Attempto Racing with Sebastiaan Øgaard and Marco Cassará and is satisfied when looking back at the two sessions on Friday.

“I think we did a good job,” he says. “We changed something on the car and it worked well. We are working towards more pace for Sunday as it’s a three-hour race, rather than a super performance in one lap for the qualifying session. With three drivers in an AM car, we have to find the right balance between us as teammates.”

The 22-year-old points out that it’s always a case of finding the right compromises, “but we are working very hard and it’s so far so good! The last time we were here was nice. It was much hotter than now, but we did a very good job,” he adds. During this Endurance round in October, temperatures are significantly lower, with a strong wind and the sun gradually disappearing.

Especially on the pit-straight these differences in temperatures could be felt, and can play a role in the weekend going forward. “Throughout the weekend it will be a little colder, so we will see how it will change the car and the set-up. Usually that’s better for the grip, so I hope for the best!”

‘It’s difficult to match a good laptime’

While the #24 Porsche and the #64 and #73 Mercedes cars topped the time sheets, BMW also looked competitive in the hands of the drivers from Ceccato Racing and Nova Race. As always, it’s difficult to really point out who is going to be fast on Sunday, which is what Jelmini in the #11 BMW M4 GT4 also points out.

“It’s been a good day for us. Coming back to Italian GT is always nice: a lot of cars on track, difficult to come close a lot, but it was nice. The last time I drove the car was one year ago in GT World Challenge,” he says. “The goal is having fun, for the moment. The pace did look very good, but it’s difficult to match a good lap time.”

A lot of that was down to traffic and the chaotic nature of the sessions, with multiple Full Course Yellow situations in FP2. “There are so many cars and so many fast drivers. It’s about finding a good spot on track. Hopefully for qualifying it’s going to be a bit different,” Jelmini adds. “Honestly, I was having so much fun [during the FPs], just trying to overtake other cars, trying to find a gap.”

Season finale conclusions: Italian GT is getting more popular

BMW Italia Ceccato Racing goes into this weekend with a third Italian GT Sprint title in a row. During the weekend in Monza they clinched the championship with Jens Klingmann to end it on a high. For this weekend, team manager Roberto Ravaglia chooses to see how it all plays out on qualifying and race day.

“We will try to get the best results and we will of course try to win the race. The practices were good, and now we will see what happens in the upcoming days,” he says. Everyone will likely go all out this weekend, as it’s the season finale and the championship is as competitive as ever. “Both programmes [Sprint and Endurance] are very competitive. The level is higher each year,” Ravaglia adds.

“The number of cars is also interesting. As you look overall: there are more or less sixty, seventy cars. I think that means that Italian GT is becoming one of the most attractive national championships, and I can also see there is a lot of interest from American drivers. It’s interesting to see a lot of people come from outside Europe to race in Italy. Maybe the food is good!”

Saturday in Mugello will be all about the qualifying session that finds place at 12:40 – 14:20 CET. In the morning, from 8:30 am – 9:00 am, the teams and drivers have another 30 minutes of finetuning and preparing for both the qualifying and the race during FP3.