Imperiale Racing’s Stuart Middleton is set for his first appearance in the Italian GT Sprint Championship at Misano this coming weekend after being called-up by the team to lead its Pro-Am entry.
The Ashington native, who has been competing with Imperiale this year in the sister Italian GT Endurance Championship at the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, will now add the remaining three Sprint series events to his 2021 schedule.
Embarking on his first season at full GT3 level this year, Middleton had an impressive debut during the three-hour opening round of the Endurance series at Pergusa just over a week ago with a fantastic podium finish on his maiden outing at the Sicilian track.
This weekend sees Middleton partner up with 17-year-old Guatemalan driver Mateo Llarena, who already has strong experience in endurance racing – including winning the Miami Hankook 500 in an LMP3 prototype back in 2020.
“I really do appreciate the opportunity Imperiale has given me to race in the Sprint Championship for the rest of the season, as well as the Endurance Championship – it’s another mega chance to prove myself in GT3 in the Lamborghini”, said an elated Middleton.
“I’m interested to see how things will go in a Pro-Am car for the first time, and obviously looking forward to working with Matteo and helping to try and bring him on as a driver too. I’m absolutely loving my time in Italy and can’t wait to be at Misano this weekend. As always, we’ll be giving our all to take the best results possible, and I know the team will give us a fantastic car.”
Unlike Pergusa, the venue for the first round of the Endurance Championship, the format of the Sprint contests is more akin to the sort of duration Middleton has been used to during the past couple of years in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and North America. Both encounters at Misano this coming weekend will be 50 minutes in duration, plus one lap.
Free practice for the Misano race weekend will take place this Friday, 4th June, with qualifying set to follow at 10:00 local time and 10:35 on Saturday, 5th June, ahead of race one around 18:20 local time. On Sunday, 6th June, race two will commence at 15:20 local time.
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