Prior to this week’s American SpeedFest 10, Giorgio Maggi admits that Valencia NASCAR Fest “wasn’t a good weekend” after suffering from performance drop issues that prevented him from scoring maximum points.
Prior to the start of this weekend’s American SpeedFest 10, Powered by Lucas Oil at Brands Hatch, Race Art Technology’s lead driver Giorgio Maggi has revealed his thoughts on his performance in last month’s Valencia NASCAR Fest, the season opening round of the 2023 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series season.
The 25-year old Swiss driver entered the year with plenty of positivity after a successful first season with Race Art Technology that landed him four podium finishes, a fifth-place finish in the overall standings, and the overall victory in the Junior Trophy sub-classification.
The positive vibes seems to have continued in the Friday Practice session where he secured third place in the combined timesheets, just behind Gianmarco Ercoli and Vittorio Ghirelli. Maggi reported that he had “a good feeling” for No. 18 Cremona Gronde/Vidby Ford Mustang, but he was wary that Practice times aren’t the true representative of their rival’s performance.
The Saturday action began well for Maggi, who put the No. 18 Ford in sixth place on Superpole after successfully advancing through the Qualifying session. Maggi notes that he was playing the long game and saved his tires for the race, although he admits that he could have performed better in the Superpole session.
“I was rather cautious in qualifying to save my tires,” said Maggi in the official release. “In the end, it was enough for sixth on the grid, but it could have been third if I hadn’t made a mistake in my second attempt.”
For the Saturday race, Maggi started well and climbed his way up to fourth in the opening laps. However, as previously mentioned by teammate Claudio Remigio Cappelli, he started to suffer from long-run performance drop and brake issues on lap five.
The long-run performance drop, whose cause was ultimately not found during the Valencia weekend, caused Maggi to lose positions after positions in the next 12 laps of the race. In the end, Maggi was only able to narrowly beat Ulysse Delsaux for tenth position.
“I got into the race well and had a solid start,” recalls Maggi. “But from the fifth lap onwards I was driving with blunt weapons, because the brakes broke down. What the problem was, I don’t know either, unfortunately.”
The issues meant that Maggi stared the Sunday race from tenth position on the grid. Once again, things started off promisingly for the Swiss driver as he was able to climb his way to fourth place following the first caution period caused by a multi-car incident in the opening lap of the race.
However, the long-run performance drop struck again as the race approached its end. Maggi was able to salvage seventh place after a manic last five laps, but he had to surrender the Junior Trophy win to sixth place finisher Ulysse Delsaux. The SpeedHouse driver beat Maggi by just 0.553 seconds at the line.
“After two or three attacks on [eventual race winner] Lucas Lasserre, the performance of the front tires dropped extremely and I could only get the car through the turns with difficulty,” explains Maggi. “Unfortunately, the loss of power was very abrupt and not as progressive as I know from overheating tires. Maybe something was broken in the car.”
Maggi would exit the Valencia round with 57-points, putting him in joint seventh place on the standings alongside Ercoli and Delsaux. He admits that Valencia isn’t a good weekend for him or the team, but he’s confident that he will be fighting at the top at Brands Hatch – the site of his first podium with Race Art last year.
“It wasn’t a good weekend overall, but the pace was there and the setup felt pretty good too,” said Maggi. “We had a good setup for Brands Hatch last year with Race Art Technology and I think that we will quickly get up to speed there.”
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