Dry conditions suit Dingli best in Sicily race

BRM Virtu Ferries Racing Team driver Gianluca Dingli had an outstanding debut to his racing season in Sicily when he took the chequered flag at the Triscina Castelvetrano circuit recently.

Dingli, 16, underlined his potential and determination to progress further now that he’s officially an Italy BRM International racer.

More than 90 drivers participated in this first round of the Coppa CSAI championship with a good turn-out in almost all eight categories.

Most of the races in store were tight affairs and fought out until the very last laps as drivers also had to deal with uncertain weather conditions that prevailed during the weekend of racing in Sicily.

Dingli has little experience of racing in wet conditions as he went into the qualifying session on wet weather tyres. However, with the assistance of Mario Lena, Dingli’s team manager, as well as guidance from BRM head office chief Erminio Bozzoni, they managed to work around these issues and changed the set-up accordingly.

Dingli eventually had to settle for 10th place on the grid in the Rotax Max Class, U-30 category.

Luckily, the weather on race day improved and all teams shifted to slick tyres.

Dingli looked more confident with the changes and was keen to show his real potential. When the green lights flashed to get the final race underway, he overtook all those in front of him in commanding style to finish first.

Before the start of the second race, Lena made further adjustments to improve performance levels. The changes again suited Dingli who won the second final race to the great satisfaction of the team. He was declared overall winner of the championship with Carlo Speciale and Salvatore Battaglia placing second and third, respectively.

“Everything turned positive when the Race Director instructed drivers to switch to dry tyres,” a satisfied Dingli was reported as saying.

“I won the first race but Lena still noticed we needed further adjustments. The changes helped me preserve the advantage I had. This was a wonderful day, my first victory in Sicily. I am so grateful to my parents, sponsors and BRM Team.”