Michele Beretta’s 2020 bigins with a fantastic podium at Bathurst 12 Hour. On a new track, with an unknown team and car (Black Falcon e Mercedes GT AMG), Michele behaved extremely well and made the debut of the season with a third place in the Silver Cup, predicting a racing season with great development.
The Bathurst experience materialized unexpectedly few days before the Australian event and Michele didn’t make find himself unready, he got the chance rewarding the confidence that Black Falcon team put in him.
Michele has been rising for all the weekend: after the free practices, dedicated to deepen the knoledge of the Mercedes AMG GT, of the demanding track and to find the harmony with the team, Michele was perfect in the race.
During the 12 H Michele brought his fast pace out and managed in the best way the changing conditions of this insidious race. He drove for a very long turn, starting with new tyres and finishing, after a doble stint, with worn out tyres, always keeping the situation under controll.
At the end of the 12 H, Michele and his team-mates got the podium (3rd) in the Silver Cup and the 14th place in the general ranking. Unfortunately, at the end of the race, Michele has been penalized with 4 laps penalty for an extra long stint, finishing at the third place of the final ranking. However, this episode don’t change Michele’s positive imprerssion.
“When I made the double stint, I drove for 2 hours and 44 minutes, considering that 2 hours and 30 minutes is the maximum permitted, the penalty was inevitable. The team let me drive for a long turn, but honestly I have to say that I didn’t feel tired and I was able to manage the wear on the tyres, always setting times close to the leaders.”
With these words Michele started off after the checkered flag.
“The track is super, there aren’t other words to describe it, we drive up and down the Mount Panorama, among walls, demanding laps and high temperature, between 34° and 39°C. The car has been always competitve as well as the team, which was well organized. I hadn’ t time to learn the cars thoroughly during the practices and the qualifying, this made me find the limit of the car during the race lap after lap, but I am satisfaied of the pace I was able to have.”
Set aside this valuable experience with satisfaction, Michele is already coming back to Europe, ready for a busy 2020 racing season, which programme will be officialized very soon.
Photo credit: Gruppe C GmbH
