Italia: Andrea Caldarelli Mugello summary

Andrea Caldarelli back to victory at Mugello

Andrea Caldarelli made his way back to victory at Mugello, in the fourth round of the Italian Formula 3 Championship. After winning at Misano in the 2010 season opener, he finally emerged from a tough stint as one of the main title favorites. Caldarelli, who was the youn- gest racer to win an National race in 2005 at Mugello, aged 15, is now standing in 4th, just 12 points off first place.

Andrea started impressing in Practice, when he beat the field to the front with good margin, before cruising to pole at the end of Qualifying and lining-up at the top for Race 1. At the start, the racer from Pescare had to deal with some tire buildup, and as team-mate Samuele Buttarelli moved into the lead, he fought back on lap 2, on the outside of the San Donato corner. While his dominant performance was also highlighted by the fastest lap of the race, Caldarelli scored 4 more points on Race 2 by ending up in 7th, where he started in 8th due to the reverse grid format. Despite being forced to deal with an over-aggressive attitude of some rivals, he successfully brought home an extremely valuable combined result.

Andrea Caldarelli
"It feels great to be back to victory after the tough time we had at Hockenheim and the trou- bles we dealt with at Imola. Both me and the Prema team showed to be great candidates for title, and to have all the skills needed for that. Race 1 was stunning, because we proved how we can be out of reach for our rivals. Just the reversed top-8 grid for race 2 forced me to recover from the midpack, but the overall weekend toll is extremely positive. I'm coming home with 26 points, and we now have great foundations for the autumn round at the same venue. Our goal is now to focus on the next round at Varano, where we hope to fight once again at the top of the pack".

-source: Andrea Caldarelli