Italia: Andrea Caldarelli Hockenheim summary

Caldarelli sits two points adrift leader after Hockenheim

It's been an extremely tough weekend for Andrea Caldarelli at the German Hockenheim venue, where the Italian Formula 3 Championship lined-up for the second round of 2010. The 20-year-old Italian pilot showed and impressive and race-wise pace since practice aboard the Prema Powerteam FPT-powered Dallara. Unfortunately, rain got in the way at that point, providing an huge de-stabilizing factor to deal with. On the 4.5-km long race- track, Caldarelli got stuck in traffic multiple times, before ending his day into the gravel to avoid a spinning car. As a consequence, he had to settle for 10th in both race. Andrea rebounded with an astounding start on Race 1, as he progressively recovered through the ranks up to 5th place. Despite fighting hard to keep his championship lead, a controversial decision by the stewards not to penalize Richelmi for a yellow-flag pass made Caldarelli lose 2 points, the one needed to pair Mancinelli at the top of the stan- dings. Things got even worse on Race 2, when Andrea tangled with Di Sabatino and was forced to retire.

Andrea Caldarelli
"As we leave Hockenheim, I'm quite disappointed as I couldn't fight for what we deserved - says Caldarelli - in Qualifying I chose the right moment for my attempt as I moved through traffic. A red flag and an off-track exit forced me at the wrong end of the top-10. On Saturday's race i got 5 spots back and that's been great, and I could have repeated on race 2 without an early contact. I want to focus on the next event, starting at Imola on July 3 and 4, when I'll be fighting for the lead again."

-source: Andrea Caldarelli