Following the disappointment of Finland it was all smiles again for Pierre Lundin and his team when he took the spoils at the UIM F2 Campione d’Italia Grand Prix. “That was really tough” said the reigning F2 World Champion, “there were times during that race that I just couldn’t see the deep rollers down the back straight. The light levels were so low that I had to rely on my radioman to keep me informed about the water conditions.”
After the start lights had finally gone out, Lundin was able to make the most of his pole position and opened up a small lead from Britain’s Matt Palfreyman and the young Italian driver Alberto Comparato.
With the water conditions best described as ‘tricky’ the leading drivers soon found themselves amongst the back markers. “Sometimes it can seem like a ‘lottery’ but today those drivers at the back of field really behaved themselves” said Lundin. “When you are all using Mercury stock engines it’s so hard to lap people, especially if they are racing their own race. Twice today I caught people up and then they pulled away from me, fortunately their radio-men told them to let us through. When I raced in F1 it was different, because our engines produced different power you could overtake the back markers easier, here in F2 it’s down to hulls and propellers to make the difference, plus I think F2 demands more on driver skill.”
Despite his best efforts Palfreyman just did not have the answer on how to close the gap on the leader. He didn’t help his cause when he skipped across the wakes at the top turn and landed his BaBa hull onto the deck of Bimba Sjoholm’s Molgaard hull. From that moment on he knew his fight for the lead was over. “For the last ten laps I could feel the boat was filling up with water, so I just switched into ‘get me home’ mode” said Palfreyman. “I said at the start of the weekend that I wasn’t here to finish second but when you are suddenly faced with a tricky situation you have to say ok lets get as many championship points as possible.”
Over thirty second behind Palfreyman at the chequered flag was Erik Edin. The Swede had looked really quick all weekend and most people assumed he would repeat his Finnish feat by taking pole position but it wasn’t to be and in fact he came very close to barrel rolling his Molgaard hull during the ‘shoot-out’. He made a great start off the pontoon and was up to sixth place from the middle of the pack before he had reached the second turn. “I started well but as soon as I caught Comparato I knew he would be tough to pass.” In fact it actually took Edin ten laps. “In the end, all it took was perfect timing and I got through. Then I was praying that we would get a yellow flag because there was no other way to close the gap to Palfreyman, I knew in a restart I would have been quicker then him.” A yellow flag make did make a brief appearance when Rupp Temper spun out but it quickly turned to green when the officials saw he was safely out of harms way. In the end Edin had to settle for a hard fought third place.
After the champagne celebrations Lundin was quick to heap praise on Palfreyman, “When we raced last season he used a heavy old Moore hull to good effect. Now he has a newer, much lighter boat, his threat level to me defending my title has just been heightened.” Massimo Roggiero, the man behind the BaBa brand said that several people had spoken to him after watching the Grand Prix saying how well his boat had handled the conditions. “Most were staggered with disbelieve when I showed them the hole in the sponson” said Roggiero. “I’m beginning to understand how Palfreyman can get the most out of my boat, perhaps it’s now time I built him a special one.” In the meantime the British driver will be making the short trip to the BaBa factory, at Busto Arsizio, where they will be making the necessary repairs before the third round of the UIM F2 World Championship takes place in Tvedestrand, Norway.
