Alan Curmi’s triple at Racalmuto

Round 5 of the Campionato Siciliano di Velocita in Pista, held as usual at the fabulous Autodromo Valle dei Templi at Racalmuto, attracted an excellent entry of almost 100 cars, mainly from Sicily, but also a few from mainland Italy, and of course our own Alan Curmi, driving his Radical PR6 Suzuki. As usual scrutineering and open practice was held Saturday morning, with qualifying for grid positions in the afternoon.

Alan was on the programme to race in Race 7 of the 8 race programme, where his main competition was to come from the similar, but works supported Autosport Sorrento Radical driven by Jeanpiero Milazzo, and a couple of 1300 engined Glorias, with the group of very competitive 1000cc single seaters helping to make this a very interesting and competitive group. The Grimaldi Team Malta boy immediately got down to business, lapping consistently better than he has ever done before, to take pole position with a lap time of 1 minute 3.7 seconds.

The weather on Sunday was clear, cold and cloudy as the cars set out for the six lap race one. Alan hesitated slightly at the start, allowing Maccarone (Gloria Hyabusa) and Milazzo to move ahead, but two laps later Curmi had already overhauled the Gloria and was chasing the works Radical hard. As they crossed the line to start the last lap it was “do or die” time for Alan who lunged to the inside line under braking at the end of the main straight to take the lead, which he kept to the finish.

After a very civilized lunch break it was time for race 2. Thanks to his race 1 win he was again starting from “pole” but again a somewhat overcautious start allowed Milazzo to take the lead into turn 1. There’s no counting the number of times the lead changed between Milazzo and Curmi as they steadily drew away from the third placed car.

Milazzo’s works car had a clear advantage in straight line speed, but Curmi was faster under braking and through the corners. With 2 laps to go Alan found just the opportunity to move ahead for the last time, pulling out over a second to Milazzo at the end of the 10 lap race to win his second race of the day and ensure the class win in the championship.

2009 was the first year in which Grimaldi Team Malta moved into hitherto uncharted territory and entered the Sicilian circuit championship. That first year it was Joshua Anastasi who crowned the season with a championship win. This year we have another champion in Alan Curmi.

There seems to be no limit to the capabilities of the young members of Grimaldi Team Malta who have impressed everyone, not just with their speed and racecraft, but also with their manners and sportsmanship, something team manager Joe Anastasi rates as one of their most important attributes. “Racing isn’t just about winning. Our Maltese boys have been exemplary throughout. I’m proud of them”.

Our thanks to Sullivan Maritime Ltd, Grimaldi representatives in Malta, without whose help none of this would have been possible.