Mattia Michelotto and the Belgian Gilles Stadsbader (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2) are the winners of GT3 race-1 in the second round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship taking place at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola. The race was halted about 3 minutes before the end due to an accident, initially awarding the victory to Denes-Bartholomew (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2). However, the Imperiale Racing team was excluded from the post-race standings due to a technical irregularity (the car was found to be underweight during technical checks), thus handing the victory to the VSR drivers, ahead of the Audi R8 LMS (Tresor Audi Sport Italia) of Moncini-Cola and the Lamborghini of their teammates Cazzaniga-Di Folco.

Antonelli Motorsport secured a double victory in the subclasses with Sandrucci-Wiebelhaus (Mercedes AMG GT3) winning in GT3 Pro-AM, while McGee-McIntosh took the win in GT3 AM.

In the GT Cup class race, Giacomo and Matteo Pollini (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-Giacomo Race) climbed to the top step of the podium for their second win of the season, ahead of Borelli-Casè (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo-AF Corse) and Milner-Hancock (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-RS Historics). However, the standings are not yet final as the Sports Commissioners are still reviewing some measures.

Today, the final two races of the first round are scheduled (GT3 at 14:20 and GT Cup at 16:30), and they will be broadcast live on Acisport (SKY 228) and Raisport (DT 58) as well as on the championship's social media channels.

GT3: It could have been a fantastic victory for the Imperiale Racing team, a success built from the official qualifying where the two drivers secured both poles. Their absolute dominance was evident from the start, with Denes quickly pulling away from Michelotto and handing the car to his co-driver with a nearly 5-second lead. In the second stint, Bartholomew extended his lead over the chasers, bringing his Lambo across the finish line first, ahead of the Huracan of Michelotto-Stadsbader. The Vincenzo Sospiri Racing team could do nothing against the winners' overwhelming power. Additionally, in the early stages, the young Venetian driver struggled to bring his tyres up to temperature. However, post-race, the situation changed in their favour after the stewards excluded the "on-field" winners due to the car being underweight in the technical checks.

This surprising twist awarded the VSR team their second victory of the season, ahead of Moncini-Cola (Tresor Audi Sport Italia), who quickly redeemed themselves after the misfortune of race-2 in Misano, delivering an outstanding performance. This was thanks to an excellent first stint by the young Brescian driver who stayed close to the leaders and an equally productive second stint by Cola, who confirmed third place (later promoted to second) ahead of Cazzaniga-Di Folco. The VSR team finished just off the podium in a race where Cazzaniga fought in his stint with Lappalainen, Di Amato, and Denis, while Di Folco maintained their position despite a five-second penalty for an irregular change, which did not affect the final standings.

The fourth overall position went to Sandrucci-Wiebelhaus in a Mercedes AMG, who, driving for Antonelli Motorsport, also won the GT3 PRO-AM class, ahead of Bontempelli-Trulli (Ferrari 296 GT3). The Easy Race drivers delivered an outstanding performance, particularly 19-year-old Enzo Trulli, son of former F1 driver Jarno, who in the second stint recovered about ten positions, finishing fifth and ahead of the second Audi of Mazzola-Delli Guanti and the BMW M4 of Malvestiti-Ebrahim.

However, there was much bad luck for the second M4 of Dennis-Klingmann, who finished only 18th after the German driver had to pit early in the second stint to change a tyre following light contact with Delli Guanti's Audi.

The top ten was completed by Berto-Jelmini (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race) in eighth place, followed by Postiglione-Coluccio (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020) and Di Giusto-Alatalo (Aston Martin Vantage GT3-L&A Infinity).

Moulin-Fabi (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2-DL Racing) and Lappalainen-Nurmi (Ferrari 296 GT3-AF Corse) finished only 19th and 20th after being involved in an incident in the closing stages of the race while fighting for 5th position, which forced the race director to display the red flag.

In GT3 AM, the win went to a Mercedes AMG GT3, driven by McGee-McIntosh, who finished 15th overall, allowing the American drivers to maintain their lead in the provisional standings with full points.

The final classification of race-1 GT3 is available at this link.

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SANDRUCCI-WIEBELHAUS (MERCEDES AMG GT3-ANTONELLI MOTORSPORT)

COLA-MONCINI (AUDI R8 LMS-TRESOR AUDI SPORT ITALIA)