On 15 and 16 May in Imola,  the second round of the  Challenge Formule Storiche organized by  GPS Classic Tommaso Gelmini was  raced. 15 cars at the start on the grid, including two Formula 3.  For the occasion, to the usual participants, Arturo Merzario  joined, for the first time and with great enthusiasm in a car of the '60s, Brabham Repco, that formerly belonged to a specialist Formula Junior driver Benedini. "The Rider" did not disappoint the expectations and, after becoming acquainted with the car for him completely new  during the test on Saturday, held under the rain,  he took second place in race one, also under the  rain and won race two, which took place on Sunday evening (it was 19.30 when the race started) with the track completely dry thanks to a beautiful sunny day.  On the podium with Merzario in Saturday's race, Tommaso Gelmini first and Paolo Marzatico third, both driving a Branca F. Junior. In race two, Gelmini took, this time the second position,  after a tight duel characterized by severals overtaking,  with Bruno Ferrari. Ferrari returned  to speed race  after the ugly accident had on the track in Castrezzato Franciacorta in early March , while trying his March 701 Formula One in view to participate in the Monaco Grand Prix Historique. Giving more details about  the two races, it must be said that the departure of Marzatico, third time in qualifying, surprised everyone. He got before everybody to the first chicane, side by side with the poleman Gelmini, who however did not want to surrender the leadership gained through a series of perfect laps during practice, but who ran into a "360 degrees"spin, almost touched by Merzario, who had started second on the grid. Marzatico, who in the past had won three of the five Formula Junior championships organized until 2005, but only on the Monza track, led the race for three laps until Gelmini, took up the reins of the race and flew away towards the victory. During the seventh of the 11 laps, also Merzario overtook Marzatico, who out of training after a year's absence from the race track, was satisfied with a result that was more than prestigious. Among the front-engined Formula Junior, Angelo Baiguera, at his first time in such a car, kept under control Tazio Taraschi, with the family car. While all this took place, there was a great turmoil in the pits, where three cars  aligned on the starting grid, were not allowed to leave, but forced to return immediately to the pits. "An unpleasant episode, said Patrizia Sbardolini, the only woman in the race,   forced to follow the race from the pits, along with the two Swiss drivers Haschke and Delea. This happened because of the rule that if a driver during the tests doesn’t score a time within the +117% of the time of the poleman, cannot race unless he signs a waiver of responsibility. Unfortunately no one thought of this rule, which is never applied, and here is the decision of the referee." Another episode characterized the end of race, the final flag was inadvertently given by the race director to a competitor that was not the first. Taraschi, protagonist of the episode, slowed down, convinced that the race was over, and therefore two closest rivals among the front-engined cars overtook him, and he finished fourth at the end of his class. We go to the race two on Sunday, Marzatico  started once again as a "slingshot" but he was overtaken by Merzario during the first lap. From that moment, the solitary ride of the former Ferrari and Alfa Romeo began and took him to win by a wide margin. Behind him, after Marzatico retired, due to the sudden release of extinguishing material (the extinguisher broke), there were some good duels between Gelmini and Ferrari for the second place, while among the junior front-engined cars, Taraschi followed like a shadow from Baiguera, struggled spectacularly, until the supremacy of the former. If these were the races, we should not forget the “parate”, which GPS Classic organizes for those who do not have cars to race the championship, or simply prefer to do a little training on the scenic Italian tracks. Seven cars were present for the occasion, from the beautiful Cooper F1 belonging to Giorgio Marchi, to the beautiful Moretti-Branca, the tiny Tagliani Baby Junior of the '60s, the Brabham F3 and a Formula Ford, and to the most advanced Formula Abarth and Formula Renault 2000. Photographs, images, comments of all the races are available at www.challengeformulestoriche.it. Next meeting on 12-13 June at the circuit of Castrezzato (BS), the Autodromo di Franciacorta.

ANGELO SENECI