Vito Postiglione, Jeroen Mul and Alex Frassineti won the second round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance series on the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 at the Misano World Circuit. Imperiale Racing’s drivers proceeded Charles Weerts-Norman Nato (Audi R8 LMS-Audi Sport Italia) by 33”323s and Ling Kang-Tuomas Tujula (Lamborghini Huracan-VSRacing) by 51”628s at the end of a wet race. The victory of GT Light went to Cristoni-Michelotto-Skaras (Lamborghini Huracan ST), while Gnemmi-Nera-Pera (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors) won GT4. Postiglione, Mul and Frassineti took the lead of the Endurance series at 25 points leading Comandini and Johansson (21) and Mancinelli, Cioci and Veglia (20).
GT3: Imperiale Racing’s lineup dominated a difficult race affected by heavy rain without leaving room for the top step of the podium to anyone else. After the safety car deployed due to the heavy rainfall, Postiglione took the lead of the race on lap nine overtaking Sims first and Tujula then, handing the car eventually to Frassineti with a 16s lead on the nearest rival. The Italian driver did not misplace a step and gained some more time on his rivals Kang, Nato and Palma and gave the car to Mul with more than 40s of advantage.
The third stint saw the Dutch driver managing the rivals and the tyres wear as he was on wets on the drying up circuit. Imperiale Racing’s drivers proceeded Weerts-Nato at the chequered flag, as the latter were at their debut in the Italian series. Audi Sport Italia’s lineup has always been among the front runners thanks to a good start by Weerts who got away from the fourth row of the grid and climbed up to P2 in his stint. Nato managed the race flawlessly in his stint, fighting with Kang before handing the R8 LMS to his co-equiper, who managed to find his way past the Chinese driver at the beginning of the third stint and to run towards the second step of the podium leading VS Racing’s lineup. After the bad luck in Monza, Kang and Tujula bounced back in Misano keeping themselves always on podium positions and leading the race early on for several laps.
Fisichella-Gai-Villeneuve ended at the feet of the podium on the Ferrari 488 run by Scuderia Baldini. Their weekend has been affected by tough luck since qualifying. Started from P11, Gai recovered well early on and handed the car over to Villeneuve in P6. The Canadian driver kept the position in his stint, while Fisichella recovered up to P4 overtaking Francesca Linossi with two laps to go. The driver from Brescia shared her Mercedes AMG with Colombo, who put in two overtaking moves on Di Amato and Sims early on, while Palma managed to recover up to P4 in the central stint. Antonelli Motorsport’s lineup was fifth leading the Ferrari 488 of Easy Race of Veglia, who was third in the first stint before going wide and losing two places. His co-equiper Mancinelli managed P5 in the second stint, while Cioci had to serve some time in the pits due to the second place in Monza and lost one position closing his effort in sixth place, leading Perolini-Gersekowski-Zonzini (Lamborghini Huracan-Imperiale Racing), Mann-Cressoni-Nielsen (Ferrari 488-AF Corse) and Agostini-Rovera-Moiseev (Mercedes AMG GT3).
Antonelli Motorsport’s lineup started from the pole position with the Russian driver behind the wheel but lost the lead early on slipping down to the back as Rovera and Agostini could not turn the race around either in their stints ending ahead of Comandini-Johansson-Sims. The British driver put in a great start and reached P2, but then had to concede several places before handing the car over to Comandini, who also struggled for the changing track conditions. In the finale, Johansson experienced some tyre wear that, added to the 30s time handicap following the victory in Monza, relegated BMW Team Italia-Ceccato Motors Racing Team to the final tenth place. Cazzaniga-Cazzaniga-Pirri (Lamborghini Huracan-LP Racing) ended just outside the top ten leading the Ferrari 488 of Di Amato-Vezzoni (RS Racing), that run a good finale as the driver from Rome managed to have the upper hand on Cressoni and Gersekowski before a contact with Johansson caused him a puncture.
GT Light: This class was decided by a good overtaking by Cristoni on “Speakerwas” that allowed him and co-equipers Michelotto and Skaras of Antonelli Motorsport to take the top step of the podium. In the first stint, P1 was shared by Mantovani, La Mazza and Skaras, while Michelotto was overtaken by Carboni in the second stint, as the latter took the lead on lap 42. In the third stint “Speakerwas” could not defend P1 and closed his effort leading Paolino-Mantovani-Demarchi (Lamborghini Huracan-Hiron Lynx). In the provisional classification, Michelotto and Cristoni are on top at 40 points and lead De Marchi (32).
GT4: Slick tyres in the third and decisive stint were the winning move of Riccardo Pera who crossed the finish line on top together with co-equipers Paolo Gnemmi and Nicola Neri. The Italian was the only driver to change tyres and recovered more than one lap on his rivals in his stint, leading the Porsche Cayman of Ebimotors to the top step of the podium, ahead of the BMW M4 of Fascicolo-Guerra-Fontana (BMW Team Italia-Ceccato Motors Racing Team). Fascicolo battled with Neri and Ghezzi that shared the lead in the first stint, while Chiesa (Porsche Cayman-Autorlando) who took over from Ghezzi, kept the lead in the second stint from Guerra for a long time.
Camathias could not fend off Fontana and Pera in the closing stint and settled for P3 proceeding teammates Cerati-Fondi-Ruberti and the Maserati Gran Turismo (V -Action) driven by Francia-Becagli-Bernazzani, as the latter were affected by electric problems for the whole weekend. The provisional classification of the “entry level” class sees five drivers equal on points, namely Fascicolo, Guerra, Fontana, Ghezzi and Chiesa at 27.
WEERTS-NATO (AUDI R8 LMS-AUDI SPORT ITALIA)
GNEMMI-NERI-PERA (PORSCHE CAYMAN-EBIMOTORS)
