09 November,2015 08:09 AM IST | | Amit Kamath
Industralist finishes in impressive fourth spot at Finali Mondiali in Mugello
Gautam Singhania is ecstatic after the Finali Mondiali, the conclusion of the Coppa Shell category of the Ferrari Challenge Series in Italy
Scarperia: Gautam Singhania clinched the fourth place in the Coppa Shell category of the 2015 Finali Mondiali with a fine show at the Mugello Circuit yesterday. The Chairman and Managing Director of Raymond Ltd started second, but fell to 21st due to drive through penalty in Lap 1.
Gautam Singhania is ecstatic after the Finali Mondiali, the conclusion of the Coppa Shell category of the Ferrari Challenge Series in Italy
Determined effort
However, he showed great determination to claw his way back to fourth by the end of the 40-minute race. After driving through the pit lane as dictated by the penalty, Singhania came out fighting and made up one place in the next lap itself. By the eighth lap, Singhania had already moved into 18th spot when an incident involving three cars helped him leapfrog five more places into 13th spot.
In three more laps, he made up two more places. He then gained a spot in each of the next two laps before climbing two more places in the 15th and 17th lap for 7th place. He went two up in the next lap before overtaking Kriton Lendoulis in the final set of corners of the last lap to wrap up fourth spot at an event he had crashed out of last year.
He could have finished on the podium had it not been for the first lap incident when his car made contact with StileF Squadra Corse's Thomas Loefflad in one of the opening set of corners, forcing the latter to plough into Jacques Duyver, who started on pole. The crash effectively ended Duyver's race while Singhania was handed a drive-through penalty.
Unfortunate penalty
Singhania felt he shouldn't have been penalised. "He (Loefflad) came on the outside on Corner 1, I had to protect myself. He should not be on the grass. He was pushing me and I backed off, he braked and went straight into Duyver. I had nothing to do with it. The drive-through penalty was unfortunate. When I came out from the pits, I saw 20 cars had gone past. Fighting back from 21st to fourth is a good feeling though," he said.
