Trofeo Maserati GranTurismo MC - Budapest (H) - Race 1-2

In Race 1 he beat off Cedric Sbirrazzuoli from AF Corse and Janos Vida, his fellow Hungarian from Auto 2 magazine, racing as a guest. The Team podium was rounded off by Emanuele Smurra, Swiss Team (11th overall). Over in the Trofeo, Vida edged out Nicolò Piancastelli and Sabino De Castro, in the Radio Monte Carlo car. As the two journalists will not be picking up podium points, these go to Piancastelli (the category winner), David Baldi and Gaetano Ardagna.

In the second race, Kiss cruised away after a series of quick laps. Behind him Phil Bastiaans (competing in the Team series) made up for the morning race when he had to pull out with a puncture. Third across the line was Romagna-based driver Piancastelli who collected another category victory and moves into second spot overall. In doing so he made up precious points on leader David Baldi, fifth across the line behind Venezuelan Ardagna.

Both races were run on a dry surface despite the heavy rain that came down and delayed Race 2. Fortunately, the fifty five thousand strong crowd who had turned out at the Hungaroring were not put off and stayed to support the home drivers Kiss, Vida, Bela Csziser and Anita Toth.

Andrina Gugger came out on top in the duel between the three women drivers. She beat Alessandra Neri and Toth in both events.

Norbert Kiss (Team, Norbert Kiss): “I know this track really well and this was a real advantage over the other drivers, some of whom had never competed here. It was an exceptional weekend. I managed to lap quickly and consistently and this allowed me to create a lead and cross the line alone”.

Nicolò Piancastelli: “I could not have wished to celebrate my birthday in a better way: two pole positions and two category wins. The only thing missing was the fastest lap time but this was because the local drivers showed us all how this circuit should be driven. Still, the important thing was the win and I achieved this. They were two tough races where I had to battle it out with Sabino De Castro and then Ardagna in the afternoon. It was difficult but I held out. I would like to thank Maserati for helping me so much, as well as my family and manager. They follow me everywhere and I was finally able to deliver a good performance in such an important championship”.

The fourth round in the Trofeo will be held at Spa, Belgium, on 26 June and will see the drivers going at it yet again.

Driver interviews, photographs, videos and in-depth reports from the Maserati single-make series are available on the Maserati Corse website (www.maseraticorse.com).

Race 1 - Trofeo                         Race 1 – Team
1. Janos Vida 41:39.059               1. Norbert Kiss (Norbert Kiss) 41:11.785 
2. Nicolò Piancastelli 41:57.031     2. Cedric Sbirrazzuoli (AF Corse) 41:38.631
3. Sabino De Castro 41:51.318     3. Emanuele Smurra (Swiss Team) 42:36.454

Race 2 - Trofeo                         Race 2 – Team
1. Nicolò Piancastelli 41:52.500     1. Norbert Kiss (Norbert Kiss) 41:08.133
2. Gaetano Ardagna 41:53.374      2. Phil Bastiaans (Phil Bastiaans) 41:40.147
3. David Baldi 42:01.065               3. Emanuele Smurra (Swiss Team) 42:44.484

Trofeo classification                 Team classification
1. David Baldi – 73 points             1. AF Corse (Sbirrazzuoli/Chionna) - 67 points
2. Nicolò Piancastelli – 52 points    2. Scuderia Jolly Club (Olivier Doeblin) – 48 points
3. Gaetano Ardagna – 49 points    3.Swiss Team (Smurra/Casè)– 42 points