Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella (Ferrari 488 GT3) won the 3rd round of the Endurance Series of the Italian GT Championship at the circuit of Vallelunga in an event that counted 28.000 spectators. At the flag, the Scuderia Baldini’s drivers proceeded Guidetti-Moncini-Cabezas (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race) by 2”513 and Llarena-Pijl-Guzman (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-Imperiale Racing) by 21”731. In GT3 PRO-AM the victory went to Ponzio-Roe-Balthasar (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-Imperiale Racing), while GT3 AM was won byMagnoni-Di Fabio (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race). The victories of GT Cup went to Postiglione-Mazzola (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Easy Race) in PRO-AM and Buttarelli-Cossu-Castillo (Ferrari 488 Challenge-SR&R) in AM.
GT3: It has been an unforgettable weekend for Rubens Barrichello and Giancarlo Fisichella in front of a lot of fans cheering them up since qualifying. They posted a splendid pole position for Scuderia Baldini. In the two hours long race they did not leave room for the rivals, despite a couple of safety cars that voided the gaps built since the beginning when Fisichella pulled away. The driver from Rome did not have rivals and handed the car over to Barrichello with a solid lead. In his stint, “Rubinho” did not have problems either. He drove well lapping on constant times before handing the great 488 to “Fisico” for the closing stint.
At the flag, the Scuderia Baldini’s drivers triumphed leading the Honda NSX GT3 of Guidetti-Moncini-Cabezas that managed to recover from to the starting P4. The Nova Race’s lineup was second and after the change from Guidetti to Cabezas. The Spanish driver had to concede his place to Beretta, but at the closing change, Moncini found himself second again and kept the position all the way to the flag when he proceeded the car of Llarena-Pijl-Guzman.
The Imperiale Racing’s lineup put in a bold performance and, after recovering from P11, they had the best of Beretta-Liberati-Nemoto (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) in the closing lap. The fourth position will allow the latter to have less handicap in the closing round of Monza. Thanks to the seven points secured by the VSR drivers, they confirmed their place on top of the classification at 42 points, which is one more than the rivals Michelotto-Basz-Hites, that were fifth today. The title will therefore be decided in Monza at the beginning of October and will be a matter involving the two Vincenzo Sospiri’s lineups only.
The victory of GT3 PRO-AM went to the second lineup of Imperiale Racing, Ponzio-Roe-Balthasar, that were sixth overall and led Pesce-Rappange-Linossi (Mercedes AMG GT3) and Cola-Moulin (Lamborghini Huracan GT3), that ended respectively seventh and eighth. The VSR lineup could have ended higher if the Belgian driver had not been handed a drive-through penalty following contact with Galbiati.
Thanks to the 12 points obtained, Cola and Moulin are now leading the GT3 PRO-AM with Pesce and Rappange. They lead Comandini-Fascicolo-Nilssson by two points, as the latter were fourth in this class despite breaking a rim and a suspension in a contact with a rival in the third stint. The GT3 PRO-AM title fight still involves Galbiati and Scholze (Mercedes AMG GT3-Antonelli Motorsport), which went out five laps to the end due to a contact with Moulin when they were fighting for P1.
In GT3 AM the top step of the podium went to Magnoni-Di Fabio (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race), that were ninth overall, and led the first of GT Cup: Postiglione-Mazzola (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Easy Race).
GT CUP: Postiglione-Mazzola secured the victory of GT Cup PRO-AM in the second stint when the young driver from Potenza took the lead overtaking Fischbaum. In the first stint, Postiglione could not fend off Pavlovic and the Serbian driver took the lead of the race handing the Huracan ST of Bonaldi Motorsport to the German driver in the lead. Postiglione pulled away in the third stint and built a big margin on Pavlovic and therefore, in Monza the title fight will be restricted to Rocco Mazzola, who is leading the pack at 52 points, and Fischbaum-Pavlovic, that are five points short of the lead.
The third step of the podium went to Cazzaniga-Di Benedetto-Nicolosi (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup-Krypton Motorsport), that led teammates Berton-Mainetti-Riva, that were penalized by some gear changes.
In GT Cup AM the victory went to Buttarelli-Cossu-Castillo (Ferrari 488 Challenge) and the 20 points earned in this way promoted the Team SR&R’s drivers to the top of the classification by one single point on the teammate Francesco La Mazza. The driver from Catania and co-equipers Lorenzo Bontempelli and Jacopo Baratto, despite some problems with the electronics of the car, ended the race in P4 behind Bozzoni-Santonocita-Del Monte (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Team Lazarus).
Testa-Hamaguchi (Lamborghini Huracan ST-FFF Racing Team) retired when in the lead due to a fire at the drivers’ change. Locanto-Rodio-Pezzucchi (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup-Krypton Motorsport) stopped in the gravel trap after contact with a rival in the early stages
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