Giancarlo Fisichella and Stefano Gai won race-2 of the 5th round of the Italian GT Championship that took place at the circuit of Vallelunga. The Scuderia Baldini 27 pairing led Zampieri-Altoè (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport) by 7”481s and Postiglione-Perera (Lamborghini Huracan-Imperiale Racing) by 9”070s. Stefano Gai confirmed his place on top of the provisional standings of GT3 at 122 points, Zampieri-Altoè (116) and Bar Baruch (105) follow him. In GT3 Light the victory went to Ceresoli-Tanaka (Ferrari 458 Italia), Davide Di Benedetto got again on the top step of the podium in GTCup, confirming his classification lead. The sixth and penultimate round of the season will take place in Monza on October 6-7th.
Race-2: The third win of the season confirmed the GT3 classification lead. Things could not be better for Scuderia Baldini 27 on the home circuit with a lot of people cheering Giancarlo Fisichella and Stefano Gai on the top step of race-2 podium. This was a deserved win that was built by Fisichella during the first stint when he trailed poleman Daniel Zampieri, and completed by Gai with a wise and regular second stint. His closest rival, the 17 years old Giacomo Altoè, took over from Zampieri at the pit stop but had to serve the time handicap following the victory in race-1 and he could not do anything to attack the championship leader. Antonelli Motorsport’s driver claimed a win and a second place in Vallelunga, two great results allowing them to stay close to Gai and within the 2018 title fight.
The third step of the podium went to Postiglione-Perera, who led Mancinelli-Fontana, as the young driver from Veneto fought a good duel with Jiatong and with Drudi in the final. Audi Sport Italia’s driver took over from Baruch in P5, got out of the pits in P8 due to the handicap time, and started a good comeback taking Comandini first and then Cheever and Jiatong. A masterpiece from the young driver at the debut in the Italian series, but with a lot of experience in GT racing that earned him and co-equiper Baruch the fifth place behind Easy Race’s pairing. The Israeli of Audi Sport Italia scored 8 points that keep him in the title fight, despite a bigger gap of 17 points, but with 80 points still to be awarded everything is still possible.
The sixth place went to Fuoco-Cheever on the second 488 of Scuderia Baldini 27. The Italian driver had a very positive debut in GT as the Ferrari Driver Academy run a good stint without problems. The Italo-American also had a positive comeback in the Italian series after winning GT3 Light in 2016. The pairing proceeded the BMW M6 GT3 of BMW Team Italia driven by the 20 years old Dutch Max Koebolt and home hero Stefano Comandini, and the Huracan of Giammaria-Jatong, that lost two positions towards the end due to the failure of a suspension arm after a good first stint put in by the Italian driver.
The ninth place went to the second Antonelli Motorsport’s pairing, Vedel-Veglia, that led Davide Di Benedetto, who was first in GT Cup on Porsche 991. The Island Motorsport driver, dominated also the Sunday race after the victory in Race-1, and now stands alone on top of the provisional classification in which he leads Pisani-Sauto (Porsche 997-Siliprandi Racing), that were second at the flag following the retirement due to a technical problem at lap 12 of La Mazza-Nicolosi (Porsche 991-Ebimotors). In GT3 Light the first position went to Ceresoli-Tanaka on Ferrari 458 Italia.
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