Adriaenssens aces Imola
Wave Italy Apex GT Championship – R2 Imola
A brand-new season of the Wave Italy ARL GT championship roared into life with a special eighty-minute enduro last week. For round two at Imola, the regular ARL GT recipe of a sprint and feature race returned.
Race 1
Championship leader, Aaron Powell, took pole position by a whisker from defending champion, Niclas Laubisch. Meanwhile, Drew Becker topped the AM class field in eleventh place overall.
From the outset of the twenty-five-minute sprint, Aaron Powell was in control in his Evo SR Corvette C8.R. Whilst Laubisch and Crouch bickered over second place, Powell pulled a comfortable gap which he maintained to the flag. A synchronised spin from Laubisch and Crouch eventually dropped both drivers out of contention for the podium. Vin Glenn and Michael Neumeier were only too happy to take their place in second and third position by the flag.
Converting upon a superb qualifying, Drew Becker ascended from eleventh to eighth to win the AM class in convincing fashion.
A reverse grid shuffle placed Elliott Barinberg and Jentsen Adriaenssens on the front row of the grid for the forty-minute feature race. For Adriaenssens, this prime grid spot gave the Belgian an ideal opportunity to strengthen his campaign for the AM class title.
Adriaenssens wasted no time in hitting the front while unbridled carnage triggered in the mid pack. Once the dust settled, the Belgian led an Indy Autosport one-two with Tom Brown. However, Danny Lee posed an imminent threat in third position.
Approaching half race distance, Lee had dispatched with Brown and locked his focus on Adriaenssens. However, Lee couldn’t make a move on his Corvette counterpart. With ten minutes to go, a firm move from Tom Brown pushed Lee slightly wide at Aqua Minerale. Thus, allowing Adriaenssens some vital respite from the view of Lee’s Corvette filling his mirrors.
Despite constant heat from both Brown and Lee, Adriaenssens resisted all the way to the flag. For forty minutes, the Belgian star had been allowed almost no rest and held on for the victory. Tom Brown managed to make his earlier move count and held off Lee for second place.
On a dream day for the Adriaenssens family, Jentsen’s brother Darragh claimed his own prize by winning the AM class in seventh overall. Once again, Indy Autosport spread their name across the podium places in both PRO and AM classes.
After two action packed contests, several Wave Italy ARL GT stars joined the Apex Racing TV broadcast team:
Jentsen Adriaenssens: “I’m very happy to win. I had a bunch of bad luck in qualifying and in race one I spun. To be on the first step in the podium, in the end, is really good. I’m really happy.”
Tom Brown: “Going into the race I knew I had decent race pace. We have done a lot of testing with the Indy Autosport guys.”
Danny Lee: “If I’ve learnt one thing, its about getting to the line. You don’t know where you’re going to be on the reverse grid. You can pick up places at Imola too.”
Matt Chambers: “I had such good pace in race one but it ended badly straight away. Race two starting in fortieth position and cut the first corner to avoid the carnage. It paid dividends in the end as I picked my way through the carnage and started making my way through towards fifth.”
On the fourth of July, the Wave Italy ARL GT championship returns for round three of the season at the Red Bull Ring. Catch all the live coverage on Apex Racing TV at 7pm GMT.
