Second podium of the season for the Solaris Motorsport at Misano

After the third place conquered in Imola, the Solaris Motorsport Aston Martin brought home a solid P2 at the Misano World Circuit, once again in the Saturday Race. For the third time in a row, the Sunday Race was held under the rain and the Sini-Mugelli's Vantage GT3 finished P7 under the checkered flag. At the end of the Misano weekend, Sini-Mugelli climb the point standings up to P4.

The Solaris Motorsport Aston Martin showed a great potential since free practice, in which the English coupè was third in FP1, while the team used FP2 to concentrate on the race pace. Good news also came from qualifying, in which Mugelli grabbed the fifth row for Race 1 and Francesco Sini was fourth in a very close Q2 session, with the Top4 grouped in just 2 tenths of a second.

Race 1 was held on a dry track and Mugelli was careful in taking care of tires and brakes in the first part of the race, giving Sini a very fresh car after the pit stop. The stop came on lap 14 and, thanks to a perfect strategy, the Aston went out of the pit lane gaining two positions. Sini's incredible pace in the second part of the race allowed the Vantage GT3 to climb up to P3, also thanks to a couple of opponents retiring. After the race, due the disqualification of the Bortolotti-Mul Lamborghini, Sini-Mugelli were promoted to P2, their new best result of the season.

As usual this year, the rain fell for the Sunday Race, forcing Race Control to declare a wet race for the third time in three races this season. At the end of the formation lap, Venturi's Ferrari went wide at the last corner before the start, slowing the entire pack. Sini, on his side, couldn't pass him before the start\finish line and so the Aston lost one position at the first corner. The Vantage GT3 was fifth for all the first stint until the pit stop window opened. After the driver change, Mugelli did his best to gain as many points he could, but he had to surrender to the comeback of the Lamborghini. In the last laps, Mugelli closed the gap on Geri's Ferrari, crossing the finish line in P7 just .7 second behind.

"It was a double face weekend. Race by race we are improving our performances and we know the car better. The results are starting to come with a certain continuity. Max was fantastic in his stint and gave me a perfect car in Race 1, I had an incredible pace and, thanks to a couple of retirements, we caught the first real podium of the year!" said Francesco Sini. "Race 2 was influenced once again by the rain, but I'm happy anyway because I improved my pace on the wet with the Aston Martin, staying permanently in the Top5. We go to the Mugello now after reaching two podiums and we want to win!"

"Third in Imola, second in Misano and fourth in the points standings after three rounds: if someone had told me before the season I'd sign for this without a doubt! I'm satisfied about Race 1, on the dry we showed a good pace and we can fight up front. The Aston Martin has good potential and the team did a great job as usual. My feeling with the car is improving race by race, but I know I can do better. The things change on the wet, where our car suffers a little for having a front engine. But I don't want to find any excuse, I must improve my pace on the wet and know better the car. I tried not to risk too much and bring home the best possible result." commented Max Mugelli, who is preparing for the next round, a very special one for him. "In a month we will be in Mugello and I hope we will have two dry races: it's my home race and, after a third and a second, I want the highest step of the podium!"


"I'm satisfied about what I saw on track: we scored our first real podium of the season and we brought home the second Top3 of the year, we conquered our best race result until now, we were very close to the pole in Q2 and now we are fourth in the championship! It was difficult to believe at the start of the season, due to the high level of the Italian championship. Francesco and Max are doing an outstanding job together with all the guys of the team and thanks to the support of Aston Martin. Each kilometer we do makes us stronger. We can be the outsiders in this championship, count us in at this point," commented Roberto Sini, who leads the team with the support of his son and daughter, Francesco and Laura.

After the Misano round, Sini and Mugelli climbed up to the fourth position in the point standings, with a 31-point gap from the lead and 5,5 from the third place. The Solaris Motorsport Aston Martin will be back on track in a month, in the July 16th-17th weekend, with two exciting races in Mugello.

Source material - Solaris