Imola, victories to Lucchini-Venturi (GT3) and Zanardini-Perel (GT Cup)

BMS-Scuderia Italia's lineup proceeded Schirò-Berton and Mapelli-Amici,while Bonaldi Motorsport's lineup proceeded the Porsche of Passuti-Goldstein and Maino-Selva in the single branded class.

Image
Lucchini-Venturi (Ferrari 458 Italia) are the winners of race-2 of the 3rd round of the Italian GT Championship held at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit of Imola. The BMS-Scuderia Italia's lineup proceeded the other coupe from Maranello driven by Schirò-Berton (Villorba Corse) by 1"847s and the Audi R8 LMS of Mapelli-Amici (Audi Sport Italia) by 9"609s. Thanks to the second place in the race, Schirò and Berton got the lead of the provisional GT3 classification at 65 points, from Casè and Gattuso (58) to Bortolotti and Viberti (57).

In GT Cup the top step of the podium went Zanardini-Perel's ways (Lamborghini Gallardo), that proceeded the Porsche 997 of Passuti-Goldstein (Antonelli Motorsport) and Maino-Selva (Ebimotors). The color bearers of Bonaldi Motorsport got the class leadership at 70 points, proceeding Pastorelli brothers (58) and Maino-Selva (52).

Race-2 as it happened: Mancinelli did not have problems to keep the lead from Venturi, Rugolo,  Mapelli, Sini, Gattuso, Bortolotti and Berton at the go, as the heat of the start involved Gagliardini, that rejoined from last after an excursion on the grass, and Mora. Sunning comeback from Ferrara, who started from the last row of the grid due to a problem in qualifying but was already 19th at the end of lap one, while in GT Cup Perel got the lead from Pastorelli to Maino.

After a good duel, Sini had to concede P5 to Gattuso during lap 5, while Zonzini found his way past Ceccato and got into the points. At lap 6 the bad luck hit the Corvette of Sini again as he had to pit to replace a punctured tyre, while Rugolo, penalized by the failure of the rear extractor in a early contact, was overtaken by Mapelli.

At lap 11 the pit window opened as Mancinelli was in the lead with a small advantage on Venturo. The top positions did not change after the pit stops, but Lucchini who took over from Venturi managed to get past Geri at lap 18 as the latter replaced Mancinelli. Casè installed himself in P3 proceeding Amici, Schirò, Biagi, Viberti, Postiglione, Di Amato and Lathouras, while Calamia, who took over from Camathias, ended his race early in the gravel trap.

In GT Cup, Zanardini took over from Perel confirming his lead from Caso to Pastorelli.

At lap 21, Capello got past Viberti taking P8 and Geri had to concede his position to Casè, Amici and Schirò during the following lap, being relegated to P5 ahead of Biagi and Postiglione as the latter recouped all the way to P13.

The race got inflamed in the final stages, as Amici and Schirò started a fight for P3. At lap 23 the two had a contact and Schiro muscled past his rival, but ath the Variante Bassa Audi's driver managed to recover his position. The duel continued for the whole following lap with several overtaking moves also on Casè, second, that eventually lost four positions due to a spin at Variante Bassa. The final laps saw Postiglione on a roll, as he wrestled his way past Casè and Geri at Piratella taking P5.

At the flag, Lucchini claimed a splendid win ahead of Schirò, Amici, Biagi, Postiglione, Geri, Casè and Capello, while Zanardini proceeded Passuti, Selva and Nicola Pastorelli in GT Cup, as the latter voided a great second place in the last lap due to a spin. In the Lamborghini Huracan Cup, the victory went to Tanca-Zaugg (Raton Racing) that repeated the victory of race-1.

On Twitter
@CIGranTurismo
@GTavoni