Michela Cerruti had to face some vey hard luck in the 2014 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the 4th round of this season’s Blancpain Endurance Series. The 27-year-old Italian female racer, who lined-up with ROAL Motorsport, ended up in 17th place among the Pro-Am field. A result that does not reflect the potential of her BMW Z4 GT3 and the whole squad fielded by Roberto Ravaglia. At least, there is the consolation of finishing the event for the first time after the retirements of the last couple of season.
Michela and her team-mate had their qualifying and race runs jeopardized by a wide variety of issues including – but not limited to – flat tires, damage from debris and electronic problems with the outside display showing theit position. After a focused start, the ROAL-prepared BMW and its drivers stayed clear of the massive crashes that plagued the first hours in the Ardennes forest. But despite the performance level of the whole package, confirmed by the quick pace showed every time the team had a chance to run clearly, there was nothing else to do then try to limit the damage and see the checkered flag.
After her tough Spa run, Michela will be back on-track in mid August for the seventh round of the Auto GP Series at the Nürburgring. The same venue will then host the Blancpain Endurance Series finale on September 21st.
Michela Cerruti
“We were hit by so many problems in this race and having seen the checkered flag is really the only consolation of this 24-hour race. At the start, we knew we had all what it took to do well and in practice we displayed our true level both in terms of the car and driver package. We could manage the same pace of the Pro-Am frontrunners and in some cases we were also able to run the same times of the leading BMWs. At the start, we avoided all the mess, but a flat tire with the safety car bred more and more issues. At least, we finished the race, but there was so much potential for us…”
