Martinus Richter was the first world champion to be crowned today in the Ferrari 2023 Finali Mondiali. This morning, on the Mugello track, the first of the three finals dedicated to the Prancing Horse single-make series was held and the Coppa Shell AM title win went to the German driver of the Mertel Motorsport team.
Starting from pole position, Richter drove a perfect race: an excellent pace, always in control, even when he found himself with his margin completely wiped out due to two interventions of the Safety Car. In both cases Richter managed to restart and take the lead without panicking.
He immediately pulled away to put a comfortable margin between himself and Stefano Marazzi (Rossocorsa) who finished runner-up thanks to a decisive overtaking move on Josef Schumacher after 7 minutes of the race, and Paolo Scudieri (Sa.Mo.Car).
It was a complicated race for Schumacher, who lost ground right until the last lap, when Henrik Kamstrup was forced to enter the pit lane to serve a Drive-Through penalty for overtaking Schumacher under the Safety Car.
For this reason, the Eberlein Automobile team driver managed to finish in fourth place, a result that seemed like a pipe dream until one lap from the end. Bruce Cleveland, a former technology star in Silicon Valley and now focused on racing, also had a good race to finish fifth.
Stephen Earle (Kessel Racing) finished sixth ahead of Jeffrey Nunberg, Tommy Lindroth, Steve Check and Dana Goodwin, who completed the Top 10.
The 30-minute race was marked by two Safety Car interventions, the first triggered by an off-track excursion by Roger Monteforte, who was in the leading positions at the time.
Monteforte ended up spinning at turn 3 Poggio Secco, getting stuck in the gravel. For this reason, the intervention of the track marshals was necessary to remove his 488 Challenge Evo. The second Safety Car was caused by Yanshen Liang (CTF Group China), who ended up in the gravel trap after a spin at Bucine.
Japanese driver Motohiko Isozaki had a bit of a complicated race. One of the favourites to win the title, Isozaki 11th after changing cars following the accident that occurred yesterday during the Superpole.
Already at San Donato, shortly after the start, he was hit by another car and ended up spinning, starting again in last place. Two thirds of the way through the race he had already recovered to fifth position with a great overtaking move on Cleveland, but on the last lap - perhaps aiming to make up more positions - he ended up spinning and crashed into the barriers, retiring.
