After the victory of the Ferrari 488 driven by Fisichella-Gai on Saturday, Audi Sport Italia’s lineup bounced back taking a good win in GT3. The victory in the other classes went to Perolini-Valente (Lamborghini Huracan) in Super GT Cup, Merendino-Di Benedetto (Porsche 991) in GT Cup and Cressoni-Magnoni (Ginetta G55) in GT4.
Following the victory scored by the Ferrari 488 of Fisichella-Gai on Saturday, race-2 went to the Audi R8 LMS of Bar Baruch and Marcel Fässler, that got on the top step of the podium of the opening round of the 16th Italian GT Championship. Audi Sport Italia’s pairing pipped Fisichella-Gai (Scuderia Baldini 27) by 0”482s, while Zampieri-Altoè (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport) ended with a 2”921s gap to the top.
The first two of the 14 races being run, the classification of GT3 sees Fisichella and Gai on top at 35 points, followed by Baruch and Fässler (25), Veglia and Vedel (20), Zampieri and Altoè (19), Palma and Barri (15), Comandini and Cerqui (12), Mancinelli and Fontana (11), Piccioli and De Castro (8). The next round will take place in France at the Paul Ricard circuit next May 12-13.
RACE-2: Bar Baruch and Marcel Fässler secured a good win in the second race held in Imola. This was an important and well-deserved victory that came thanks ton excellent race strategy and two flawless stints put in by both Audi Sport Italia’s driver. In the first part of the race, the Israeli Baruch, who started on a great pole position, always kept the lead, putting a security margin between him and Veglia, Altoè, Gai, Cerqui, Fontana, Barri and De Castro, before handing the car over to his co-equiper in P1. Despite a safety car that compacted the group, the Swiss driver who won three 24 Hours of Le Mans did not have problems to fend off Zampieri first and an unleashed Fisichella afterwards. The driver from Rome has put in a splendid comeback race as he had to serve the 15s handicap time at the pit stop after the victory in race-1. The Scuderia Baldini 27 driver completed great overtaking moves on Vedel first and Zampieri then. The latter was not in his perfect shape to a problem affecting his ankle. All this action rewarded fans on grandstands with great spectacle. It would have been a great battle with Fässler, but the countdown marked the end of the race giving Audi the first win of the season ahead of the rivals from Ferrari.
The third step of the podium went to Daniel Zampieri and to the very young Giacomo Altoè, who is just 17, who has been very good to stay close to the pacesetters in the first stint. The Antonelli Motorsport drivers ended ahead of Daniel Mancinelli, who put in a good comeback in the second stint, and Andrea Fontana (Ferrari 488-Easy Race), while Palma-Barri (Petri Corse) were fifth at the end of a regular race, leading Vedel-Veglia (Antonelli Motorsport) and Piccioli-De Castro (Ebimotors), all on Lamborghini Huracan. Stefano Comandini (BMW M6 GT3-BMW Padova Team) has been quite unlucky and had a violent exit at Rivazza after taking over from Alberto Cerqui, while Marco Magli (Ferrari 458 Italia-Easy Race) could not start the race due to the failure of the gearbox.
In Super GT Cup, Perolini-Valente (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport) repeated the victory of race-1, leading teammates Cenedese-Perullo, as did Merendino-Di Benedetto (Porsche 991-Island Motorsport) in GT Cup, that ended on the top step of the podium proceeding La Mazza-Nicolosi (Porsche 991-Ebimotors) and Pisani-Sauto (Porsche 997-Siliprandi Racing), the latter penalized by a pit stop due to some problems to the front-end of their car.
A good duel has been fought in GT4 by Nova Race drivers on the Ginetta G55. Several overtaking moves have inflamed the duel between Magnoni and Marchetti in the first stint, but Matteo Cressoni’s experience in the second part of the race had the best of the nevertheless quick Henri Kauppi.
