After missing the opening round of the 2021 Italian GT Sprint championship at Monza, Daniele Di Amato returned to the national series behind the wheel of his #25 RS Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo to take his first overall victory despite a five-second handicap penalty required by regulations for the team’s single driver entry.

Roman-born Di Amato started Race 1 in second behind pole-man Antonio Fuoco in his #8 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo but jumped in the lead with nine laps from the finish after overtaking Fuoco’s teammate Sean Hudspeth. Despite a late safety car period which brought the competition closer, Di Amato was still able to extend his lead immediately after the restart.

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The restart, however, left Sean Hudspeth fighting to defend his second position against a very quick Vito Postiglione in his #14 Audi Sport Italia Audi R8 LMS GT3. Hudspeth was able to hold off though, forcing the Audi driver from Potenza and teammate Daniel Mancinelli to settle for the third step of the podium.

For Postiglione and Mancinelli, however, a third-place finish was enough to take the Sprint series championship lead in front of fifth place race finishers Lorenzo Ferrari and Riccardo Agostini in the sister #12 Audi Sport Italia Audi R8 LMS GT3. Alex Frassineti and Luca Ghitto meanwhile scored an impressive fourth-place finish in the #63 Imperiale Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo.

In sixth place overall, and first in GT3 Pro-Am, was Simon Mann and Toni Vilander sharing an #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, ahead of the second-placed Pro-Am finishing #88 LP Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo of Pietro Perolini and Jonathan Cecotto. After an excellent first stint by the young Venezuelan driver, who in fact managed to recover two positions, Perolini was unfortunately entangled in a tussle at the exit of the safety car period which caused his vehicle to have both its exterior mirrors shut due to contact. A second-place finish, however, was still good enough for the Milanese team to remain on top of the GT3 Pro-Am Sprint championship standings.

The Race 1 top ten was completed by Francesco De Luca and Jacopo Guidetti finishing eighth place overall and third in Pro-Am in their #55 Nova Race Honda NSX GT3 Evo, ahead of the GT3 Am-winning #33 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Murat Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli, and last but not least, Luca Segú and Bar Baruch in their #90 AKM Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Bad luck struck the #58 RAM Autoracing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Luca Filippi and Alberto Lippi after being forced to retire at the end of the race due to a gearbox problem, while the #7 Ceccato Racing BMW M6 GT3 of Marius Zug and Stefano Comandini stopped just two laps short from the finish due to a puncture.

After a third-place finish during Race 2 from Monza, Lorenzo Pegoraro and Missimilliano Mugelli in their #391 Best Lap Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo obtained a GT Cup class victory after maintaining the lead of the race all the way throughout.

The second step of the podium saw the #333 SR&R Ferrari 488 Challenge of Luca Demarchi and Nicholas Risitano finishing ahead of the #369 Krypton Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Francesco La Mazza and Giuseppe Nicolosi.

At the foot of the podium was Gianluigi Simonelli and Maurizio Pitorri in their #318 Best Lap Ferrari 488 Challenge, finishing ahead of Daniel Vebster and Francesca Linossi in their #355 Easy Race Ferrari 488 Challenge while in sixth was Carlo Curti in his #381 Tsunami R.T. Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Milos Pavlovic and Michael Fischbaum in their #351 Bonaldi Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán ST closed out the GT Cup running order.

Bad luck struck for Ermanno Dionisio and Giacomo Barri in their #399 Team Italy Lamborghini Huracán ST, retiring from the race due to a gearbox casing problem.

In GT4 it was a clear Pro-Am victory for Ebimotors, as their drivers Mattia Di Giusto and Riccardo Pera brought the #251 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 home ahead of the GT4 Am-winning #207 Nova Race Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Diego Di Fabio and Luca Magnoni.

Giuseppe Fasciolo and Nicola Neri claimed the last spot on the podium aboard the #215 Ceccato Racing BMW M4 GT4, while Giuseppe Ghezzi and Dario Cerati finished fourth in the #275 Autorlando Sport Porsche 718 Cayman GT4.

Race 2 starts Sunday at 15:10 CEST.

 
 

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