Bertonelli and his perfect Saturday, which in one fell swoop catapulted him +10 ahead of the reigning champion Cerqui, while the Porsche Italia monomarque paddock prepares for race 2 with Fulgenzi and Amati on the front row and many eager to make up ground from behind, which could hold some surprises. Starting with the weather?
On Wednesday, during the pre-race tests of the first round of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia at Imola, he said it didn't seem real. On Friday, during the free practices, he said it seemed a bit more real. Saturday morning in qualifying, he said it was real. Saturday afternoon in race 1, he said it was really true, although he "struggles a bit to believe it."
Step by step and with a Saturday that was eye-opening, including the fastest lap in the race, Diego Bertonelli has taken it all in this early season of the Porsche Italia series, which has reached a record 37 participants registered for the entire season.
Of course, it's too early to call him a runaway leader, but undoubtedly, he's a man alone at the top. The BeDriver standard-bearer, sometimes unfairly labeled as the "eternal second" (twice in Carrera Cup between 2018 and 2019), despite his young age (24 years), has found an immediate connection with the new 911 GT3 Cup. Thanks to his talent that has always kept him fighting at the top, he is now unquestionably in first place.
With his calm demeanor, but eyes that still sparkled, the Forte dei Marmi driver put it this way after the first triumphant Saturday of the season: "I returned with a new team after a year and a half, and we exceeded expectations. I mean, we can't do better than this. First in tests, in free practices, in qualifying, and then this victory... I struggle a bit to believe it, a nice comeback! BeDriver did an exceptional job, and I owe this opportunity to them. Let's see what happens in race 2, but I went to bed very happy yesterday!"
"Upon waking up, and this applies to everyone, there's already a race 2 ready that, with Enrico Fulgenzi and Giorgio Amati on the front row, could hold surprises and maybe shuffle the cards a bit, as an inverted grid often manages to do. There will be someone, especially Matteo Malucelli, Ale Giardelli, and Giammarco Quaresmini, who will want to quickly make up ground from further back.
And a surprise, somewhat unexpected now after the many twists and turns of recent days, could even be the weather, which since last night has returned to cause some concern in the paddock of the tricolor monomarque. Rain, or perhaps just drizzle, is not entirely ruled out before or during the race, scheduled for 12:30 with live TV coverage on Cielo and satellite coverage on Sky Sport Arena, as well as live streaming on www.carreracupitalia.it.