It will be a double-faceted weekend for Oregon Team between the European Le Mans Series, which will race at Spa-Francorchamps and the Clio Cup Italia at Vallelunga.
In Belgium, the European series is hitting the fifth out of six rounds of the season before the grand finale of Portimão scheduled for October. And on the fast track of the Ardennes forest, the goal will be to aim for an elusive win that so often slipped away due to a series of imponderable circumstances. Certainly, Spa is (at least on paper) a well-suited track for the Norma M30 LMP3 of the Lombard team, again shared by Damiano Fioravanti, Lorenzo Bontempelli and young Lithuanian Gustas Grinbergas. In the previous rounds, the trio proved able to fight among the frontrunners all the time. The same happened three weeks ago at Silverstone, with Fioravanti third in qualifying but then stopped after the first hour of the race by an engine problem.
Fioravanti had dominantly started the season by securing the pole in the Paul Ricard opener. In France, the team then ended up fourth. The following event at Monza brought a third place in qualifying, but also a retirement due to fire outbreak. In Barcelona, the team delivered an amazing front row but suffered from many setbacks in the race that. Then Silverstone, and now Spa.
“We know we are competitive. In qualifying, we have been able to place ourself in the first two rows every time. But to finish first, you first have to finish and so far we have not been lucky”, commented Jerry Canevisio, who leads Oregon Team together with Piergiorgio Testa, “The Spa circuit is quite suitable for our car, especially in terms of the aerodynamics. Two of the three sectors are very fast and this can definitely help us.”
At the same time, the team will be back on track in the Clio Cup Italia championship, also hitting the fifth and penultimate round of the season at Vallelunga. A track that is completely new, like all the others, for 17-year-old Francesca Raffaele: the female racer is at her first season in the Renault-supported series. So far she achieved eighth place as her best result in the two most recent rounds of Monza and Misano. She also holds second place in the Junior classification, just ten points behind the leader, Filippo Distrutti. On the Roman track, “Due” will also be back in action, second among the Gentlemen competitors just one point away from leader Fabrizio Ongaretto. He was able to secure third place on his home track at Monza. At Vallelunga, the Oregon Team will also manage a third RS 1.6 turbo for two journalists part of the Clio Cup Press League by Renault Italia, Lorenzo Baroni and Gaetano Cesarano.
The 4 Hours of Spa will start on Sunday at 12.30, with qualifying scheduled for Saturday. Qualifying for the Clio Cup Italia series will also be on Saturday, while the two 25-minute races are scheduled for Sunday starting at 9 am and 5.15 pm respectively.
