The titles of the 15th Italian GT Championship that still were up for grabs have been awarded today at Muegllo in the 7th and closing round of the season. In Super GT3 PRO the new Italian champions are Alex Frassineti and Michele Beretta (Lamborghini Huracan-Ombra Racing), GT3’s is Simone Niboli (Ferrari 458 Italia-MP1 Corse), while the victory of the National Trophy GTS went Sabino De Castro’s ways (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors). The new champions added up on those named yesterday after race-1: Super GT3 was won by Stefano Comandini and Alberto Cerqui (BMW M6 GT3-BMW Team Italia), Super GT Cup by the Finns Tuomas Tujula and Aaro Vainio (Lamborghini Huracan-Vincenzo Sospiri Racing) and the GT Cup title had been won in the previous round in Vallelunga by Eugenio Pisani (Porsche 997-Siliprandi Racing). The fresh Italian champions Frassineti-Beretta proceeded Agostini-Zampieri (Lamborghini Huracan) and Gai-Venturi (Ferrari 488) in race-2, while in Super GT Cup’s race two the top step of the podium went to Cazzaniga-D’Amico who led Desideri-Perullo and Liang-Ortiz, all on Lamborghini Huracan.

 
SUPER GT3: Season 2017 could not end in a better way for Frassineti-Beretta. Ombra Racing’s drivers claimed the victory in the closer of the season of Super GT3 PRO. That was not a walk in the park though. The race was decided in the finale. Following a plain first stint that saw poleman Zampieri leading Cheever, Schirò, Beretta and Gai. After the pit stops, Frassineti came to the fore recovering more than four seconds on the leader Agostini and finding his way past him on lap 23. Once on top, Ombra Racing’s driver pulled away on the Antonelli Motorsport rival, who in turn has been good fending off Venturi, while Malucelli recovered a great fourth position after serving 15s handicap at the pit stop. The top four grouped within 4s, a red-hot final saw all protagonists fighting for the title challenging each other, but Malucelli got beached three laps before the end after a contact with a lapped car. Meanwhile, Frassineti pulled away on Agostini and Venturi that put on a great battle all the way to the flag, when their podium positions were confirmed as the title went Ombra Racing’s ways. The fourth place went to Treluyer-Ghirelli (Audi R8 LMS-Audi Sport Italia), who led Baruch-Mapelli (Lamborghini Huracan-Petri Corse Motorsport) and Veglia-Galbiati (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport), that were first of GT3. Thanks to the third win of the class, Lorenzo Veglia closed his season one point shy of Comandini-Cerqui (BMW M6 GT3), as the latter won the Super GT3 title, despite BMW Team Italia’s pairing had to retire from race-2 due to an electric problem. In the final classification of Super GT3 PRO, Frassineti and Beretta led Stefano Gai by 5 points and Daniel Zampieri by 10, while Malucelli and Cheever ended 15 points behind.

 

GT3: The second place in race-2 handed the victory of class GT3 to Simone Niboli, who was perfectly helped by Stefano Colombo in the occasion. The victory went to the Audi R8 Ultra of Rangoni-Magnoni (Audi Sport Italia) that have always been on top, following a great start by the Bolognese driver. The third place went to Marco Magli (Ferrari 458 Italia-Easy Race). Venerosi-Baccani (Porsche GT3R-Ebimotors) were hit by bad luck and had to retire when an axle-shaft broke shortly after the pit stop, after a very quick stint put in by Alessandro Baccani. This did not allow them to fight for the title until the end.

 
SUPER GT CUP: The title quest had been closed yesterday in favour of the Lamborghini Huracan driven by Tujula-Vainio. Race-2 saw the victory going to Vincenzo Sospiri Racing’s Cazzaniga-D’Amico. Thanks to the fifth win of the season leading Desideri-Perullo (Antonelli Motorsport), the pairing of the Forlì based team earned the title of vice-champions, proceeding teammates Liang-Ortiz, that were third at the flag in this race. After the opening stint of Ortiz who led throughout, Liang managed to rejoin after the pit stop behind Cazzaniga and had to concede his position to Desideri before the race was stopped by Race Director due to the problems occurred to his car that stopped in a dangerous place. The fourth place went to the fresh champions Tujula-Vainio, that recovered from a spin early on into the race, as they proceeded Imperiale Racing’s Bonacini-Pastorelli, Benvenuti-Demarchi, and Perolini-Romani (Antonelli Motorsport). The eighth-place went to Kasai-Basz, but Antonelli Motorsport’s drivers got up to P3, before slipping down on lap 17 when they had a spin.

GT CUP: The victory of Francesco La Mazza (Porsche 997) in race-2 earned him the title of vice-champion. Ebimotors’ driver and co-equiper Giuseppe Nicolosi repeated the win taken on Saturday and got past Walter Palazzo in the classification. The driver of Siliprandi Racing, who shared his Porsche 997 Cup with the new Italian Champion Eugenio Pisani, had an excursion early on ending his race in the gravel trap, which allowed Nicolosi to close in 4 points short in the classification.

 

GTS: The closing race of the season awarded also the National Trophy GTS to Sabino De Castro (Porsche Cayman). Ebimotors’ driver managed the race taking P5, a result that was enough to win the title with 10 points more than Nicola Neri. The driver of Kinetic Racing and co-equiper Mauro Pizzola, were second in race-1 and therefore were still in the fight for the title, but the axle-shaft broken on lap 3 did not allow them to fight for the title until the end. The victory went to Luca Magnoni (Ginetta G55-Nova Race), who proceeded Matteo Arrigosi (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors) and teammate Mark Speakerwas, while Ghezzi-Giovanelli (Porsche 997-Autorlando) ended fourth leading the fresh champion Sabino De Castro, who was penalized with a 45s time handicap.

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