With four Swedish drivers filling the first five spots on the starting grid for the Grand Prix of Milano, the likelihood of some of them finishing on the podium look strong. It would take a few hours of protests meetings following the chequered flag to decide the outcome but once the decisions were made every step of that podium would be filled with a Swede.
Following the tragic circumstances of last years race on the Idroscalo circuit, the officials kept stressing the need for all twenty drivers to ‘maintain their lane’ till they had rounded the demarcation buoy. Ninety-nine per cent of them got it right; the only driver to deviate off his line was the local hero David Del Pin earning himself a one lap penalty after the results of the forty lap race had been published.
Reaching that buoy in first place had been Pierre Lundin but he had to leave space for the pole position man Erik Stark to negotiate the turn. “Yes, I was first to the mark” said Lundin, “perhaps I left too much room for Stark I certainly made it easy for him. ”With Stark now out in front Lundin gave chase but try as he might he just couldn’t get close enough to pose any real threat. Back in third place was Erik Edin you had got the jump on Rupp Temper in the start run then past Johan Osterberg on the back straight. “I could see Lundin and Stark were fighting for the lead and I soon realised that I just didn’t have their pace” said Edin “so keeping hold of third place became my main concern.”
With just two laps completed, out came the yellow flags as Manuel Saueressig had ground to a halt at the top end of the course and needed the assistance of the tow boats to leave it. Lundin knew that the rolling restart would give him the perfect opportunity to get past Stark; a move the reigning F2 Champion had used himself to win the last round in Brindisi. You don’t become a twice world champion without picking up some skill in making it difficult to be overtaken, “sure I had a huge advantage on being on the inside line at the restart but I still had to drive the Molgaard like it was a ‘super tanker’ so that Lundin couldn’t past me” said Stark.
As the pack got back up to race speed it wasn’t long before the yellow flags were out once again. This time it was for a racing incident involving Edin and Stan Kurtsenovskiy. As the field were rounding the far turn the Russian driver had seen an opportunity to make up a few places. Edin had Temper alongside him by now and was trying to fend off the Austrian’s advances, in doing so a gap suddenly appeared and Kurtsenovskiy decided he would fill it. Just as the Russian made his move Edin closed the door. In the impact Kurtsenovskiy’s DAC hull rolled over the back of Edin’s Molgaard. Amazingly both drivers were unhurt and carried on racing. “After the crash I instantly undid my seat belts because I thought my race was over” said Kurtsenovskiy. “I quickly looked about and realised I was the right way up and the engine was still running, so I instantly got back racing. I was steering the boat with my knees as I franticly tightened my belts up again” Kurtsenovskiy said after the race.
With no more incidents the race soon settled back down with Stark opening up a small gap between himself and Lundin. Edin had now pulled out a healthy lead over Temper who had the fortunate Russian behind him in fifth place.
As the chequered flag brought the Grand Prix to a conclusion the pit area soon began to resemble one massive Swedish hug fest, for the first time in their history they had laid claim to the entire podium, which had now become awash with blue and yellow flags. “Every time I get out of my boat I think that was the toughest race ever” said the race winner. “Lundin is so fast in these conditions so I really had to keep my wits about me for the entire forty laps” said Stark.
“It certainly was tough out there” agreed Lundin. “I drove the best I could but it wasn’t good enough today. There was so much spray all around the course that at times it was almost impossible to read the water. I really needed some help from the backmarkers but they all drove well today, so there was no chance of Stark being held up. I think I can find the speed to catch him up with him but getting past him will be an altogether different challenge” said Lundin.
Much to his young teams delight Edin claimed his first ever F2 podium place after taking the final step on the podium. “I have been racing in this championship for nearly eighteen months now and finally I have a podium place to show for all the hard work” said Edin. “When I came ashore I spoke to Kurtsenovskiy about the crash, I don’t think either of us thought we would finish today, so perhaps all I have been missing is that slice of good luck.”
The F2 World Championship now heads down to South Africa for the final round of the series taking place in mid December. Erik Stark still remains at the top of the Championship on fifty five points and now as a lead of nineteen points over his closes rival Peter Morin.
