Malucelli-Cheever (Ferrari 488) and Necchi-Desideri (Lamborghini Huracan) took the two wins at the third round of the Italian GT Championship in Monza. Race-1 of classes Super GT3 and GT3 saw Scuderia Baldini 27 drivers proceeding the Audi R8 LMS (Audi Sport Italia) of Treluyer-Ghirelli and the sister car run by Easy Race for Schirò-Melo (Easy Race), while in the race reserved to classes Super GT Cup-GT Cup-GTS Antonelli Motorsport’s pairing led Vainio-Tujula (Vincenzo Sospiri Racing) and Bonacini-Durante (Imperiale Racing). In GT3 Di Benedetto-Merendino, at the debut on theAudi R8 LMS ultra (Audi Sport Italia) led the Porsche GT3R of Venerosi-Baccani (Ebimotors) and the Ferrari 458 Italia of La Mazza-Magli (Easy Race), in GT Cup the victory went to Pisani-Palazzo (Porsche 997-Siliprandi Racing),while Luca Magnoni won GTS on th Ginetta G55 (Novarace). Race-2 will take place tomorrow at 14,25 (SGT3-GT3), with live coverage on Raisport, and at 17.10 (SGTCup-GT Cup-GTS) live on AutomotoTV.

 
SUPER GT3: Malucelli-Cheever took the first win of the season and get on the top part of the standings. Malucelli kept the second position behind Beretta in the first stint, and at lap five Ombra Racing’s driver had to concede the position he got cutting the first chicane. Once on the lead, the Italian driver started pulling away as Beretta, Zampieri and Treluyer followed him starting a good duel for P2, with the Audi driver taking Zampieri at lap six. Back on track after the pit stops, despite the 10s time handicap, Malucelli’s co-equiper Cheever was on top 3s clear of Gai and 5 of Ghirelli, as the latter was delayed by the change of the rear right tyre due to a puncture. At lap 19, Gai had to pit due to a puncture too, handing P2 to the Audi driver that closed his effort at the flag behind Cheever and ahead of Melo - Schirò, great third at the end of a good comeback race. The Brazilian driver had been touched by Gentili at the start, spinning and rejoining from the back. He and his co-equiper had to complete a comeback race with a closing great move on Cerqui.

 
Frassineti-Beretta, were fourth and had to serve 20s time handicap at the pit stop after a good first stint of the young Italian. In the closing stages Frassineti engaged in a great duel with Cerqui that allowed him to close ahead of BMW’s lineup that was first of the non PRO. The sixth place went to Agostini-Zampieri, who also had to serve 20s time handicap and that led Leo-Baruch, Pezzucchi-Pastorelli and Veglia-Valente, that were respectively second and third among the non PRO. An unlucky Stefano Gai rounded off the top ten. 

 

GT3: Victorious debut for Davide Di Benedetto and Michele Merendino on the Audi R8 LMS ultra run by Audi Sport Italia. The lineup deserved the victory after Merendino, on top since lap two, was tapped by La Mazza spinning. The driver from Catania was handed a drive through penalty, while Merendino rejoined the pack handing the car to Di Benedetto who took the lead keeping it at the chequered flag proceeding Venerosi-Baccani, that closed second despit the 45s time handicap. Benucci-Bontempelli were quite unlucky as they were stopped by an electric problem, while Del Castello-Colajanni had to retire due to some problems to the power-steering.

SUPER GT CUP: Desideri-Necchi chased the victory and managed to get it after a strong first stint put in by the driver from Rome, who has always been behind Vainio, and wise closing stage by his co-equiper. Necchi managed to fend off several attacks moved by Bonacini and by the Finn Tujula, closing on the top step of the podium ahead of the Finns of Vincenzo Sospiri Racing and Bonacini-Durante, who had been very quick today. The race saw Kasai-Basz retiring for a suspension problem and Benvenuti-Demarchi going out in the heat of the opening stages, event that required the safety car due to the liquid leaked by a car. Lewandowski-Myszkowski were fifth at the debut in the series, leading Liang Ja-Ortiz, Trentin-Tempesta, Galbiati-Alessandri and Cazzaniga-D’Amico, that slipped down from P5 due to a spin.

GT CUP: The second win of Eugenio Pisani strengthened his classification lead. The Italian and his co-equiper Walter Palazzo, have been flawless and the latter managed to stay away from trouble in the opening stages when Francesco La Mazza’s car leaked some liquid. Siliprandi Racing’s lineup was also slowed down by a further stop to clean the windscreen that was full of oil, but the podium celebrated a regular race. Biolghini-Scarpellini closed their debut race with a DNF due to an incident early on.

GTS: Luca Magnoni secured the victory and the classification lead in this series. Nova Race’s driver closed on the top step of the podium a race that saw a lot of drivers retiring. Among these, Nicola Neri went off at lap one. Carboni–Marchetti also did not finish due to the failure of an axle-shaft and Castro-Gonfiantini were stopped by an electric problem while holding P2. Magnoni and De Castro fought a nice battle with several positions exchanges in the first stint, while Marchetti managed the race in P3. The two retirements handing the victory to Nova Race’s driver who now leads De Castro by five points in the classification.

 
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