Vincenzo Sospiri Racing claims the win for the second round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship. The race started fairly quiet, but the chaos erupted in the last two hours. Multiple Full Course Yellow and safety car periods threw drivers off their rhythms. Edoardo Liberati, Mattia Michelotto and Ignazio Zanon turned it into an opportunity to bring it home.
After getting pole position for the race, it was the #1 McLaren 720s GT3 of CSA Racing leading the field of more than fifty cars into the Prima Variante. With Baptiste Moulin behind the wheel, CSA Racing kept the lead as the pack moved through the first chicane. No carnage this time, as the previous race at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza saw a massive start crash in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance.
Pole sitter can’t catch a breath in first stint
A couple of cars took the escape route to prevent a crash and slotted in after the Prima Variante, while some had less luck and had to make a trip through the gravel. The #64 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the #9 Audi R8 LMS GT3 suffered some problems, as the Mercedes stood still on the main straight and the Audi had to spin around to get going again.
The #99 Audi, the Silver winner of the GT World Challenge Europe Monza race, could sadly not even partake in the race, as a clutch issue kept the car in the garage. Moulin therefore had Riccardo Ponzio and Alessio Deledda – in the sister car of CSA Racing – behind him. The Belgian was under pressure from the McLaren and the #45 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo going deeper into the race, meaning there was no time to relax and strategy would soon become even more important.
The leading car was followed into the pitlane by the #45 Ferrari and the #66 Lamborghini, with both cars opting for a driver switch as well. After returning to the track, the complete top twenty already did their first stop. Moulin passed the steering wheel of the #1 McLaren to teammate Sanjay Thirugnana.
Chaos period mid-race takes its victims
After about an hour the safety car was called on track, as the #51 Ferrari seemingly suffered suspension damage on the front left side, stopping on the side of the track just past the Seconda Variante. With a hundred minutes left to go, the race continued under green flag conditions, while the yellow flag waved again barely two minutes later. The #69 Ferrari was out of the race at the same time, parked on the side with damage on the nose of the car.
The race continued again, but three minutes later race control opted for a Full Course Yellow, as there were marshals on track to clear the debris. Cars spun in Prima Variante as well, and the damaged Ferrari spilled some carbon splinters on track too. The pitlane instantly became busy, as nearly half of the grid came in for a pitstop.
After the pitstops, the order changed slightly and the fight for the win was obviously fully open. The #66 Lamborghini with Ignazio Zanon behind the wheel was in the lead, with two more Lamborghinis completing the top three at that very moment. The #1 McLaren was driven by Moulin again, who was in P5.
The FCY period was upgraded into a safety car with just over an hour left to go. After the track was clear, the race restarted in the 79th minute and it was Zanon’s honour to get it going again. He was under pressure from Segú in the #72 Lamborghini, but managed to stay ahead, while Salmenautio in the Ceccato BMW got an overtake done for P3.
The field stabilized somewhat as Zanon pulled away from the #72 with half a second, as Filip Ugran in the BMW struggled slightly to keep up the pace of two cars ahead of him.
#66 Lamborghini takes the victory
With the last sixty minutes counting down on the clock, the race basically split up in small sprints from FCY to FCY. The spin into the gravel of the #18 Lamborghini saw the top three searching for the pit lane to conduct their fourth pitstop, with the #66 VSR Lamborghini emerging as the leading car once again.
The FCY became a safety car another time, slowing down the grid for at least twenty minutes. Liberati, now behind the wheel of the #66 car, managed to pull away from his rivals while they were under pressure from the #7 BMW. In the remaining phase of the race, the leading car stopped once more to switch drivers, and giving Michelotto the task to bring it home.
He was chased by the #72 and the #7, who were within five seconds of him. The sprint to the end of the race was interrupted by a yellow flag in the last ten minutes, as the #12 Audi of Soffiati Nicolò halted on track just after Variante Ascari. For Michelotto, that was only good news as he extended the gap to 5.6 seconds with five minutes to go.
The race went green again for the last couple of laps, with the #66 Lamborghini crossing the line first. The podium was completed by the #72 Lamborghini of DL Racing. The #7 BMW of Italia Ceccato Racing took P3.
Tight fight in PRO-AM and AM class
Francesco Braschi on the #51 Ferrari initially took the win in PRO-AM class, but due to a penalty the squadra dropped off of the podium. It meant that Philippe Denes took the win in the #85 Lamborghini, with Riccardo Cirelli and Ceccato Racing taking P3.
In the AM class, David Fumanelli and the #33 Kessel Racing Ferrari crossed the line in P1, with the #93 Ferrari and #26 Ferrari following in P2 and P3. Colin Caresani was in the car after stints from Florian Scholze and Sacha Lehmann, pushing hard as Luca Ghiotto in P3 was just two cars ahead of him.
The gap between them was too big for the Dutchman to close in the concluding section of the race, and he ended up taking P4 in class for his first race with Stratia Motorsport.
GT Cup
In GT Cup it was the #231 Ferrari 296 Challenge of Krypton Motorsport taking the win in the AM class. Pole sitters of the #184 Lamborghini of SF Squadra Corse unfortunately did not finish the race, resulting in the win for the #150 Ferrari of Spirit of Racing in the Pro-AM class.
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