The 29 years old from Rome Edoardo Liberati and the 26 years old Japanese Yuki Nemoto are the Italian GT Endurance 2022 Champions behind the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3. The title for the VSR’s pairing came in the 4th round of the season held at the circuit of Monza. The new champions won the race proceeding Guidetti-Moncini-Cabezas (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race) by 1”288 and Llarena-Pijl-Guzman (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-Imperiale Racing) by 3”218.

In the final classification, Liberati-Nemoto totalled 55 points proceeding teammate Beretta, who was second and equal on points with Guidetti-Moncini-Cabezas (42) then Michelotto-Basz-Hites (41) and Llarena-Pijl-Guzman (36) followed.

The closing round of the season has awarded the other titles to Cola-Moulin (GT3 PRO-AM), Magnoni-Di Fabio (GT3 AM), Rocco Mazzola ex-aequo with Fischbaum-Pavlovic (GT Cup PRO-AM) and Buttarelli-Cossu (GT Cup-AM).

The Endurance season being over, the eyes will now be on the Sprint series that will have its grand finale at the Mugello Circuit next October 21-23.

RACE CLASSIFICATION

GT3: It has been a suffered victory for Edoardo Liberati and Yuki Nemoto after two intense and eventful hours and three safety cars that confirmed the tradition of the Italian GT that awards the title only in the closing minutes of the last race. This is how the 20th edition of the Italian series unfolded and VSR’s drivers – without Michele Beretta who was busy in the USA for a conflicting race – left their mark taking their second win of the season.

It has not been easy though, also due to the back pain that affected the driver from Rome who started from the pole position but was soon overtaken by teammate Hites. The initial stages of the race were on the wet and the first three laps were run behind the safety car, but all the teams decided to put slick tyres on, with the only exception of Galbiati who used the rains. The choice of the Antonelli Motorsport team paid off only in the initial laps when the Italian driver and co-equiper from Germany Scholze, started from the third row of the grid, managed to take the lead and engage in a good duel with Guidetti.

The Nova Race’s driver came to the fore leading the pack in the first stint, while Galbiati was forced to stop in the pits due to a problem with a wheel hub. Hites was second and Liberati slipped down to P7, therefore the title fight seem to go the Chilean driver’s way. He handed the car over to Michelotto, but the twist arrived in the third stint when Basz had to retire due to a gearbox issue.

At that point, Nemoto, after a good recovery, took the lead of the race proceeding Moncini, who took the wheel over from Cabezas, and crossed the finish line proceeding the Nova Race’s drivers and Pijl-Guzman-Llarena. The Imperiale Racing’s drivers completed a recovery race after a difficult start. They ended ahead of the Porsche 991 GT3R of the Germans Bohn-Renauer A.-Renauer R. and the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Cola-Moulin which allowed the VSR drivers to take the GT3 PRO-AM title.

The seventh place went to Ponzio-Roe-Balthasar (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-Imperiale Racing), that led the first GT Cup car, the Lamborghini Huracan ST of Fischbaum-Pavlovic (Bonaldi Motorsport), the Porsche 991 GT3R of Lauck-Dreisow (Huber Racing) and the Ferrari 488 Challenge (Easy Race) of Postiglione-Mazzola-Coluccio. The tenth overall position went to Comandini-Fascicolo-Nilsson (BMW M4 GT3).

The BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team’s drivers were in the hunt for the GT3 PRO-AM title but did not have good luck and their result was spoiled by a problem at the tyre change. Pesce-Rappange-Linossi (Mercedes AMG GT3-Antonelli Motorsport) went out following contact with the Honda of Magnoni-Di Fabio while holding P8, but Emidio Pesce and Jop Rappange ended second in the final standings of the GT3 PRO-AM.

GT CUP: For the first time in the history of the Italian GT a title was won ex-aequo. This happened in the GT Cup Pro-AM where Fischbaum-Pavlovic ended equal on points with the 17 years old Rocco Mazzola. The young Italian driver and co-equipers Vito Postiglione and Luigi Coluccio, ended behind the Bonaldi Motorsport’s drivers taking two wins a second and a third place, which are exactly the same results as their rivals

The title was chased from the opening round of Pergusa and the new Italian champions celebrated on the podium together with Berton-Mainetti-Riva (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup-Krypton Motorsport), which proceeded teammates Cazzaniga-Di Benedetto-Nicolosi, that were slowed down by a puncture. Krodric-Mur (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Bonaldi Motorsport) have been leading the race for a long time but went off due to an incident in the second stint.

The final victory of Samuele Buttarelli and Lorenzo Cossu in GT Cup AM has been quite clear thanks to the third win in Monza in the four races. The SR&R team’s drivers got the most out of the retirement due to gearbox issues of the 488 Challenge of the teammate La Mazza and co-equipers Castillo Ruiz and Bacci and therefore took a deserved Italian title. In the final classification, Buttarelli and Cossu proceeded Luciano and Donovan Privitelio (Lamborghini Huracan ST-FFF Racing Team) by 18 points, as the latter were third on the podium behind Bozzoni-Santonocita-Del Monte (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Team Lazarus).

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THE START OF THE RACE

THE WINNERS OF THE GT CUP PRO-AM TITLE, FISCHBAUM-PAVLOVIC (LAMBORGHINI HURACAN ST) EX AEQUO WITH ROCCO MAZZOLA (FERRARI 488 CHALLENGE)