Alberto Di Folco and Stuart Middleton (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) won race-1 at the 3rd round of the Italian GT Championship that is underway at the circuit of Imola. The Imperiale Racing’s pairing proceeded Urcera-Di Amato (Ferrari 488 GT3-Scuderia Baldini) by 0.871s and Glock-Klingmann (BMW M4 GT3-BMW Italia/Ceccato Racing Team) by 1.380s. The other victories went to Guerra-Greco (GT3 PRO-AM) and Butti-Patrinicola (GT3 AM), that respectively were behind the wheel of the Honda GT3 of Nova Race and the Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Italia, while the top step of the podium of GT CUP was taken by Piccioli-Pera (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup-Ebimotors) in PRO-AM and Rodrigo Testa (Lamborghini Huracan ST-FFF Racing Team) in AM. In GT4, a one-two was claimed by the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Nova Race with Di Fabio-Schjerpen and Ferri-Bencivenni that led the Porsche Cayman of Cerati-Fondi (Autorlando).
Race-2 (50 minutes + 1 lap) will get underway tomorrow at 15 and will be broadcast live by Acisport Tv (SKY 228) and recorded by Raisport at 19.30. The two races will also be available through live streaming from www.acisport.it/CIGT, Facebook www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-QsHUuslO4iZekAeBoskgg/featured
GT3: The victory of Imperiale Racing’s paring came in the second stint when, after the drivers’ change, Di Folco took the lead of the race after the first stint in which his coequiper Middleton kept P2 behind the German Klingmann. At the start, the BMW driver got most of the pole position start and kept the lead pulling away from his rivals, but the safety car voided his advantage and when the pit window opened Klingmann, Middleton and Urcera were all close with each other.
In the second stint Di Folco, exploited the 15s handicap time that the BMW drivers had to serve and took the lead of the race keeping it all the way to the end despite a second safety car. He closed the race leading Di Amato, who took over from Urcera and was good at fending off Glock (Klingmann’s coequiper) in the closing stages.
Guidetti-Moncini (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race) ended close to the podium after a first stint by the young driver from Brescia who started from P2 but then slipped down to P4, and a second stint in which Guidetti recovered after the 15s time penalty to be served at the pit stop. The pairing closed ahead of teammates Guerra-Greco, that recovered up to P9, which earned them the GT3 PRO-AM victory. The sixth place, after 10s of handicap time, went to Panciatici-Gai in the second Ferrari 488 GT3 of Scuderia Baldini, that proceeded Cecotto-Di Giusto (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-LP Racing), Pesce-Rappange (Mercedes AMG GT3-Antonelli Motorsport) and Butti-Patrinicola (Audi R8 LMS-Audi Sport Italia), that were the first of GT3 AM. The top ten was rounded off by Alessandro Cozzi in the Ferrari 488 GT3 of AF Corse.
GT CUP/GT4: The GT Cup’s race has been quite exciting. The category enjoyed great participation in Imola. The victory went to the 16 years old from Portugal Rodrigo Testa, which is quite a good surprise, especially considering that the FFF Racing Team’s driver of AM was at his maiden race in the Italian championship. He run an attack race and in the closing laps, he recovered several places after starting in eighth place in the category.
In GT Cup PRO-AM the victory went to Piccioli-Pera (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup), as the strong driver from Tuscany completed a great recovery that ended with Ebimotors’ colors on the top step of the podium after the start from P14. The second place went to Coluccio-Mazzola (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Easy Race), which kept the classification lead thanks to the 15 points earned. They led the sister car driven by Mac-Kirchmayer (Baron Motorsport) and the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup (Tsunami RT) of Levorato-Piria. The strong driver from Padova engaged in a good battle for the lead with Alessandro Giardelli. Next to Rodrigo Testa, the GT Cup AM podium was rounded off by the American Jeremy Clarke (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Pellin Racing) and Bronzini-Tabacchi (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup-EF Racing).
Nova Race scored another one-two in GT4 with Di Fabio-Schjerpen and Ferri-Bencivenni in the Mercedes AMG that proceeded the Porsche Cayman of Cerati-Fondi (Autorlando). Schjerpen did not have any problem confirming his pole position taking the lead and pulling away from his teammate Bencivenni, who could not close in on his teammate. Things did not change at the drivers’ change and Di Fabio, who was at the first race of the year in GT4, kept the lead extending the gap on Ferri and eventually closing ahead of Fondi who took over from Cerati.
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GUERRA-GRECO (HONDA NSX GTE-NOVARACE), GT3 PRO-AM LEADERS
RODRIGO TESTA (LAMBORGHINI HURACAN ST-FFF RACING TEAM), THE WINNER OF GT CUP AND OF GT CUP AM
