Good pace but no points from Imola

Barts run of bad luck continued at Imola, round five of the Italian championship. Qualifying 1 was looking promising until Bart encountered a slower car on his final push lap, seeing a possible P5 become P12. Qualifying 2 was even more frustrating with a slow release from the pits leaving him in slow traffic and only one lap in which to set a time. A small mistake cost 0.2s dropping him from a possible P8 to P16 and lots of work to do on a circuit that is notoriously difficult to overtake on.

Race one started well with two places gained, but Barts launch turned out to be too good, being adjudged to have moved a fraction of a second too early. A ten second penalty taking away ninth place.

Race two saw Bart get another tremendous start, jumping from P16 to twelfth at turn one, only for the race to be red flagged following a spectacular fifteen car crash off the start line. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt but the race was abandoned, to be potentially run at a future round of the championship.

Race three on Sunday morning saw Bart start P16 and with another trademark quick start and some great racecraft he had carved his way to ninth with five minutes left to run. As he went to take eighth place he was pushed wide and across the gravel trap, losing a place in the process. Whilst the other driver was penalised for his dangerous move it put Bart on the back foot for a couple of laps before his tyres cleaned up. Back up to pace Bart was looking to move forward again when he was hit from behind causing him a puncture and ending his race. A great drive and fastest lap sadly went unrewarded.