The Autodromo Valle dei Templi at Racalmuto in Sicily was the scene of more success for Maltese drivers last weekend, when 6 drivers, all members of the Island Car Club, competed in the 2nd round of the Campionato Siciliano di Velocita in Pista, ably organized by Sikelia Corse under the auspices of AICS.
The Malta team made the trip across to Sicily on the Virtu Ferry on Friday and headed straight for the track at Racalmuto where they soon settled into their pit garages, kindly made available once again to the team by the circuit management. By the start of free practice on Saturday morning over 100 cars and drivers had assembled at the circuit, including some fairly “big” teams such as the official Gloria team under Marco Fichera, and with the great Mr. Enrico Glorioso himself in attendance.
The Malta team, under the management of Joe Anastasi, consisted of 3 cars in the 1000cc Formula class – Johan Spiteri and Simon Camilleri both driving Jedi Suzukis, and Matthew Zammit’s Suzuki engine Van Diemen. Patrick Gauci (Hawke Kawasaki) was entered in the 1300cc Formula class whilst Alan Curmi with his Radical Suzuki had the two works Gloria’s of D’Amico and La Spina to contend with in the 1600cc Formula class. Last but by no means least, Joshua Anastasi was making a comeback after demolishing his JBR-4 Kawasaki at Gnejna in December. With nowhere to test locally Racalmuto on Saturday morning would be the first time the rebuilt car was able to turn a wheel in anger. His main competition came from 2 young karting champions in the 2000cc Formula class.
All 16 Formula cars qualified in the same 20 minute session. This produced a lot of traffic and bunching, making it difficult for drivers to produce a clean lap, but by the time the 20 minutes were up it was Joshua Anastasi who headed the time sheets, with both Alan Curmi and Patrick Gauci also fastest in their respective classes. The 1000cc class was the busiest of all, with 9 very competitive cars. Johann Spiteri, whose car was also untested since undergoing a complete engine change, made the 2nd fastest time in class, with Matthew Zammit 4th and Simon Camilleri celebrating his debut in Sicily with 6th place on the class grid.
The race organizers rightly decided on Sunday morning to split the 16 formula cars into 2 separate heats, thus Race 5 was reserved for the highly competitive under 1000cc Formula cars, with the remaining 7 cars forming Race 6. At the start of the 6 lap first race both Johann and Matthew made good starts both trailing pole man Salvatore Gargante into the first corner. These 3 started to pull away from the rest of the field, but on lap 3 Matthew slowed momentarily allowing a number of competitors through in the process. At the end it was Gargante from Johann Spiteri, with an excellent Simon Camilleri a delighted third.
The first race for the “bigger” formula cars was next with Joshua Anastasi and Alan Curmi forming up on the front row of the grid, despite the strong opposition. Joshua lead into the first corner from “pole” with Alan hounding him for all 6 laps as they drew away from the rest of the field. With the race comfortably in the bag a momentary lack of concentration caught Joshua out as he entered the very last corner of the race, putting the car into a spin. Curmi snapped up the opportunity to take the lead to the flag, with Anastasi recovering to take 2nd and Gauci 4th.
The 10 lap final races of the day saw the cars assemble on the grid according to their finishing position in their 6 lap morning race. As the lights went out Spiteri and Camilleri held their positions in 2nd and 3rd place respectively, but Matthew Zammit produced a demon start to move to 4th from the back of the grid. Simon stumbled momentarily letting Matthew through whilst Johann put all the pressure he could on race leader Gargante. But it was to no avail, the race finishing with Gargante 1st from Spiteri and Zammit.
The final race for the bigger engine formula cars saw Alan Curmi on pole sharing the front row with Joshua Anastasi. Josh got the better start and led Alan into the first corner. A slight mistake at the end of lap 1 saw Alan nip through into the lead, but Joshua powered through again on the main straight to retain the lead all the way to the finish. Alan retired with a mechanical problem on lap 4, but very young 16 year old Marco Pollara was getting to grips with his beautiful Tatuus Formula Masters and making inroads into Joshua’s lead. The Maltese driver “kept his head’, keeping young Marco in his mirrors and controlling the race to a fine win.
At the final presentation of awards a special mention was made of the Malta team for their friendliness, helpfulness and sportsmanship throughout the meeting. It made you proud to be Maltese.