Certainly I hoped for a better start of this new season. All in all it was a good start with the two qualy in which we were P4 for race1 and P7 for race2, despite the problems of the new M6 manifested in free practices, and race 1 was not bad (P4)... But today was a disaster. It hasn't been certainly one of my best races, but the car did not want to work in the wet and it was frustrating to have been overtaken by all. Then I made also a mistake that could be dangerous to me, but especially to others and this would have been frustrating to me because in 21 years of racing I do not remember having harmed anyone ... Thank God it did not happen even if I was very close this time. But these are also the unexpected of a sport like this. I received a lot of criticism and I'll take all of them.... sometimes you're wrong and I'm certainly not immune to this ... I want to say thank you to the people who came at the racetrack, to those who have followed me from home, but also to those who have criticized me because sometimes the criticism, if constructive, can make you see things in a different way from your point of view .. thanks also to my Team Roal, to BMW Italy and my teammate Alberto Cerqui for your patience. Hopefully next round at Imola be better....
After a wait of six months finally ready to get back on track with so many unknowns. How will the new car? Will I be ready with so few tests? Now the answers are nearby. Saturday race 1 at 16.45 and race 2 on Sunday at 12.10. Follow them live on Raisport 1, also in HD, or here on my website in the Calendar section and then clicking on Live Streaming. I think I'm ready !! How about??
A very Happy Easter to all of you! See you again on April 6th at Monza for a two days of testing!!
I inform you all that is now on-line my new Facebook page, Stefano Comandini Racing driver. Please give a look and share it with your friends. Thanks! See you very soon!
Today was the first real test of the season. In the morning I was really worried because I could not find the feeling with the car, but then we found the right way to improve the set up and step by step I found the confidence to begin to push. At the end of my work with the new tires I managed to score a comforting time that will allow me to continue with much more confidence. Slowly we are knowing and willing each other, me and the M6 ... You'll see, soon we will be in harmony .....
Some photos of the presentation can be found in the Gallery section. I hope soon to celebrate yet in this way ...!
Finally back to talk about racing! Yesterday in Milan in the beautiful BMW center was held the presentation of the new BMW Team Italy of which I will be part. BMW Italy officially is back again to car racing through the Team Roal of Roberto Ravaglia for which I ran in the last 3 years. It will do with the new M6 GT3 that I already tested last week at the Adria circuit. Me and my new team mate Alberto Cerqui a very young driver, but already very experienced and successful, will take part in the Italian GT Championship. At the age of 48 is truly an honor to be part of an official program. I can only thank for that Roberto Ravaglia and BMW Italy. Now get to work. Friday 18 we will be back on track at Vallelunga for a test day. I am very confident about the value of the car and of our skills, but we will have to wait for the confrontation with opponents who will be very aggressive. Follow me!
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Hi guys. Finally it's time to go back writing! I want, first of all, to apologize for not giving news of me from the middle of last season, but the lack of significant results had angered me to the point of not having desire to write, though, an athlete in any case must accept the dark moments. I'll never make this mistake again, but now I look forward with great confidence to a new period, maybe the last of my career, which is about to begin ... I still can not reveal anything because it does not depend on me, but very soon you'll know. It will be a very exciting season I hope ... Thank you for your patience guys. Stay tuned!! See you soon!!
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Finally back on track! The BOP slightly improved for us and therefore we are confident to do well. The races will be broadcasted this time by Rai Sport 1 and we hope that they will be actually aired in the scheduled way, after that, in the first four races of the championship, RAI has absconded..!! Race 1 Saturday 27 live at 15.20 on the AutoMotoTV channel 148 of Sky and on Rai Sport 1 delayed at 23.30. Race 2 Sunday 28 live at 11.00 on Rai Sport 1. Anyway both races will be broadcasted live streaming on my web-site in the Schedule section.
Monza is not the track that suits our Z4 and this is well-known, although last year, we won the opening round of the Blancpain in the Pro-Am class and gained the sixth place in the overall ranking, with 60 cars at the start!! Cause of this, I did not think that these races were so difficult for us. Certainly the BOP is not yet fair in our opinion and in fact we paid almost 20 kmh of top speed on the main straight of the fastest cars, behind the GT Cup also in the ranking of top speeds... and on a track where the corners practically do not exist, we could not do anything. Even luck did not give us a hand, because a technical problem caused a fire in the early laps of free practices, preventing us from being on track in both sessions. This would have at least helped us to find a decent set-up for qualifying and avoid having to start so back in the grid. In race 1 after sailing between the tenth and the eleventh position, a touch with a Ferrari caused a puncture and after returning to the pits for the tyre change we finished in 19th place! In Race 2, after having made an excellent start, jumping from the 14th on the grid to 8th place, during the second lap a debris on the track damaged a brake pipe forcing our retirement ... Worse than this!! Now we can only waiting for the next races, on circuits that are more favorable to us, hoping also in a fairer BOP.
Unfortunately as we imagined both races did not go as hoped. In Race 1, a contact with the Porsche of Postiglione-Donativi while we were fighting for the 9th position, made us go into a spin and it took away the chance to win the 6th final place. It wouldn't have been bad considering the situation, but unfortunately the final 13th position obviously not pleased us. But things did not go better in Race 2: bad luck hit us again and after having recovered from 11th to 7th place and hooked the train of cars led by the third, the MP1's Ferrari, at that time in 6th position at the "Curvone" spun just in front of us, forcing us to get out off the track and causing the subsequent withdrawal from the race. Too bad... because in Race 2 we were able to improve the race pace and probably we could really fight for the third position... But we haven't collected anything and went away from Vallelunga without a single point! Now at the end of the month we will be at Monza for the second round of the championship, but even there we will not have high hopes considering the characteristics of the track that certainly are not suitable to our car. Hoping for some changes in the BOP, otherwise I think we will start really from the last row of the grid ... We'll see. See you at the last weekend of May in Monza. Keep following us. Bye Bye.
Worse we could not start. Unfortunately just from the free practices we had the feeling that our Z4 was not fast, despite all attempts to find a right set-up, in qualifying session our negative feelings have been turned into reality: almost 2 seconds from the pole position in quali1 and a second and four tenths in quali2! Obviously we analyzed the performance with telemetry, but not having found anything unusual, the only reason for a performance like that in a circuit that has always been in favor of BMW and in which we had always seen protagonists, was attributable to the dreaded Balance of Performance (said BOP) that has heavily damaged us. In fact, the time of the pole position 1.32.866 clocked by Ferrari is a time that in Vallelunga is attributable to more powerful GT2 cars, while in winter testing we had clocked 1.33.600 a time that gave us great hope, being very close to the pole of 2014. But as mentioned, the unfavorable BOP hurt us a lot during qualifying, having to carry into the car a very heavy ballast that prevented us to compete on equal terms. Starting from thirteenth place in race 1 and from the eleventh in race 2 realistically we can't fight for the podium ... We will try to get as many points as possible.
Finally here we are! After a long winter and few tests to regain confidence with the car, the time to return to racing for the Italian GT Championship has arrived. It starts from Vallelunga, the home race, a track also theoretically favorable to our car. I'm anxious and curious to see where we are. In this season I will share the car with Andrea Gagliardini a very fast and young GT driver coming from Porsche. This year the championship is really nice and difficult because there are so many cars and many competitive teams. Qualifying Saturday morning and immediately Race 1 in the afternoon at 16.10. Sunday, Race 2 at 12.10. All races will be broadcast live on Rai Sport 2. Fingers crossed!
Due to a technical fault to the mail server, I have received only now emails of a period of four months, from September 2014 to date!!! I apologize for the inconvenience and assure you that I will answer all the emails received. Most of them are requests for autographs and small gadgets. I promise to make everyone happy. Thanks again and thousand of excuses. Stefano.
Also this year I have to comment on a season that ended in disappointment for Roal Motorsport, but especially for me. This was an important year after the debut at the wheel of BMW Z4 in 2013, that all in all it was positive, considering the final 2nd place in the Italian GT Championship and the positive debut in the Blancpain Series with the 2nd place Pro-Am in the final race of Nurburgring. In the season 2014, ROAL had decided to focus in the Blancpain Series only, neglecting the Italian Championship, decision that I had willingly accepted, although the races of the Blancpain are only 5 and then I would have been less busy, but the decision appeared to be right.The car was at the top, the guys of the team had trained a lot to improve the pit-stops and I also trained as never done before to be on top, especially for the 24 Hours of Spa. In fact we started in the right way by winning the first race at Monza, circuit where the Z4 suffers a lot the congenital lack of top speed and distinguishing ourselves in the second race at Silverstone, coming third, that could easily be a second if we had not had a little technical problem during the last pit stop. Even at Paul Ricard in the third stage, we defended, despite the circuit configuration was the one with the long straight (1.800 meters) and a puncture put us in 10th place at the end. But we were still leading the championship and sincerely I began to hope for something serious, considering the last two races, the 24 hours of Spa and the 1.000 km of Nurburgring, would be held on two tracks absolutely favorable for our car... but unfortunately in these two races, although we had a competitive car - as demonstrated by the 2nd fastest time in the pre-qualy session of the 24 hours and the 9th place overall after the first 3 hours of race - we have not even picked a single point and then we slipped to 6th place in the final standings. It might not be so bad in such a competitive championship, but our ambitions were certainly different... What a pity... once again I must say what a pity... but I have a hard head and I don't give up until I bring home a title. I promised it to myself! I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT RECEIVED IN THIS SEASON, FAR FROM ITALY... BY THE END OF JANUARY 2015 I WILL HAVE NEWS ABOUT MY PLANS FOR THE 2015 SEASON. I WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED. BEST WISHES FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. THANK YOU ALL!
