Defending champion Torrente and Wyatt take top honours in Cagliari Sprint Races

Shaun Torrente and Rusty Wyatt dominated their respective Sprint Races, each leading from start to finish on a gloriously sunny day in Cagliari on Saturday.

In both races, fiercely contested battles were a feature of the middle of the pack of drivers, with Brent Dillard showcasing his overtaking skills in Sprint Race 1 and Ben Jelf displaying his pedigree in Sprint Race 2.

In the first Sprint Race, current world champion Torrente lined up in pole position following his dominant display in the qualifiers, and after taking the holeshot the Victory Team driver looked in comfortable control leading the pack of nine drivers.

It took the American just four laps to put over five seconds between himself and second place Peter Morin, who himself gradually pulled away from Bartek Marszalek in third, with Morin building a ten second cushion over Marszalek by the seventh lap.

Further back in the pack, Marit Stromoy gained a position from Duarte Benavente in the first lap, pushing the Portuguese down into ninth place. Alberto Comparato also fell back at the start, with Alec Weckstrom and Brent Dillard overtaking him and pushing the Italian into sixth place.

Dillard was only able to overtake Comparato by the slimmest of margins, setting up a tight battle for fifth between Dillard and Comparato, with just 1.005 seconds separating the two after the third lap.

But Dillard was able to see off Comparato’s challenge, extending his lead over the Italian to 2.332 seconds by the eleventh lap, and beginning to mount a challenge of his own to fourth-placed Weckstrom in front. Any pressure on Dillard from behind subsided after engine issues forced an early retirement for Comparato after fourteen laps.

Torrente coolly crossed the finish line as he started the race: in first place. He was followed by Morin and Marszalek, meaning the podium places remained unchanged from how they lined up. Weckstrom kept his cool and claimed a fourth-place finish despite Dillard’s challenge, but the Finn was far from the pace of fellow Victory Team driver Torrente, who managed a race best lap of 46.427 seconds to Weckstrom’s 48.683 seconds.

Dillard finished in fifth, Bourgeot sixth, Stromoy seventh, Benavente eighth, and Comparato in a disappointing ninth.

It was an all-Sharjah Team affair at the front of the second Sprint Race, as their three drivers lined up in a one-two-three formation following strong showings in the morning’s qualifiers. All three Team Abu Dhabi drivers were also lined up on the pontoon, though in less flattering positions than their fellow Emirati rivals. Jonas Andersson lined up in fifth, Al Qemzi in seventh, and Erik Stark at the back in ninth following an engine change.

Wyatt took the holeshot to retain his first place, with Stefan Arand holding onto second, but a flying Andersson was able to perform a double overtake on Grant Trask and Sami Selio to slot into third.

Meanwhile, Stark was gaining positions of his own, overtaking Deguisne at the start and immediately hunting down Jelf, closing the gap between the two to just 0.623 seconds after four laps. This precipitated a battle for sixth place midway through the race, with Jelf just 0.688seconds behind Al Qemzi by the seventh lap, and Stark creeping up not far behind.

After tightly trailing Al Qemzi, Jelf was able to finally get his overtake on the eleventh lap at the race course’s only right turn, then immediately put distance between himself and seventh place Al Qemzi, extending a 4.947 second lead by the thirteenth lap, and more than doubling that lead to 11.976 seconds the following lap.

Tragedy struck in the last minute for Arand, who was encumbered by an electrical issue that briefly saw him grind to a halt with less than two laps left, allowing Andersson and Trask to overtake and push him out of the podium finishes.

Wyatt emulated Torrente’s performance in the first Sprint Race in leading from start to finish, securing the full ten points. Arand’s last-minute technical trouble allowed Andersson to claim second, and Trask to cross the line in third, but a two-place penalty for not maintaining his lane at the start pushed the Aussie down to fifth in the race’s final standings.

Arand was therefore bumped up into third, with Sami Selio in fourth, and Trask’s penalty pushing him into fifth.