Comunicati Stampa - A ray of sun... in Martinsville
A ray of sun... in Martinsville
In what could be described as a very difficult season to date, Dellavega managed to grab a memorable win to add to his resume.
A relatively poor qualifying saw Dellavega starting from 12th on the grid (not in line with 75% top10 qualifying record we're seeing this season) amongst some of the top ranked drivers in the world such as the frogs Vergne, FatJean, fast indian Kankonkar, czech Lacko of speed and mad fin Vainio.
3 spots were gained early on in the race but the safety car, which must have felt unloved, came on track lap 10 to get some attention...
What followed was a long stint of uninterrupted 60 laps with no spot gained, a few more attention seeking safety car and the retirement of some drivers wanting an early shower (due to the length of the race some of the younger driver had to retire to make the curfew imposed by their mums... silly if you ask me).
Then magic happened... Dellavega and his engineer had adopted an early pitstop strategy to take benefit of traffic and the high probability of safety car occurences at the paperclip.
Dellavega pitted lap 71 and dropped from 9th to 23rd.
What we witnessed from lap 71 to the final lap was a display of clever strategy, mistake free driving (a rare occurence this season!) and all the planet aligning themselves.
Lap 91, Dellavega was 4th, some drivers ahead were falling out of the ranking like flies beaten by a cow's tail...
By lap 100, Dellavega was in the lead. He kept his cool for a further 65 laps to clinch the victory.
The following were his words in victory lane:
"I woke up this morning feeling good bra... I had a slash it came out gold and thought wow this is going to be a good day then remember I had a berocca before going to bed! Anyway thanks to vegemite, my ginger bear and his strategy. I'll remember this win, it is as special as winning at Suzuka or Bathurst, I'm pleased... where's my beer bra?"
Dellavega will be on track again this week for the F2 Oceania Series where things are not going to plan at all this year with the equipment (wood tyres, 2 strokes 23cc engine etc etc)