Bar Baruch and Jamie Green (Audi R8 LMS) claimed the victory in the first race of the 3rd round of the Italian GT Championship held at the Misano World Circuit.
The Audi Sport Italia’s lineup proceeded the Ferrari 488 od Gai-Rugolo (Scuderia Baldini 27) by 7”700s and the BMW M6 GT3 of Comandini-Spengler (BMW Team Padova) by 39”954s. The victory of Super GT Cup went to Valente-Perolini (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport), while the victory of GT Cup went to Merendino-Di Benedetto (Porsche 991-Island Motorsport), while the top step of the podium of GT4 went to Magnoni-Cressoni (Ginetta G55-Nova Race). Gai is leading the provisional GT3 classification at 63 points and leads Baruch (57), Zampieri and Altoè (54), Veglia and Vedel (49). Race-2 is scheduled for tomorrow at 15 and will be shown live on Raisport and on the Facebook page of the championship. The web live streaming will also be available at www.acisport.it/CIGT.
Race-1: On top from lights to flag, Audi’s pairing Barauch-Green claimed a deserved victory that allowed the Israeli to install himself on the second place of the classification, only six points short of Gai. The victory was built in qualifying when the British driver claimed a stunning pole position. He then led the race for the whole first stint. Despite a safety car that compacted the group, Green managed to fend off the 17 years old Giacomo Altoè, who trailed him for the first part of the race, handing the R8 LMS over to his coequiper on top. Barauch kept the momentum in the second stint, securing the second victory of the season that made them forget the bitterness of the Paul Ricard, when the victory vanished shortly before the chequered flag. Behind Audi Sport Italia’s car, Michele Rugolo, who replaced Giancarlo Fisichella, who in turn is competing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and Stefano Gai, that managed to keep a great P3 in the first stint. Stefano Comandini and Bruno Spengler, put in a recovery race started from the sixth row of the grid. After a first stint run by the Italian close to the front runners, the Canadian DTM 2012 champion and BMW factory driver completed a great move on Zampieri that brought the BMW Team Padova’s lineup to a very good P3. Zampieri-Altoè (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport) closed at the feet of the podium, leading teammates Veglia-Vedel, that were penalized by a pit stop to remove a bollard stuck on the chassis of the car. The sixth place went to Palma-Barri (Lamborghini Huracan-Petri Corse), that were followed by the first of Super GT Cup Valente-Perolini (Lamborghini Huracan-Antonelli Motorsport), Pierluigi Alessandri and Cenedese-Sartori. The ninth overall place went to Merendino-Di Benedetto (Porsche 991-Island Motorsport), that also led GT Cup. After a great stint put in by Merendino, who had started from the last row of the grid and got past La Mazza and Sauto. After getting the car on top, Di Benedetto did not have problems to close on top, confirming the leadership ahead of Pisani-Sauto. The latter ended 11th overall and second of their class, but Siliprandi Racing’s lineup was penalized by a contact early on when La Mazza shared the cockpit of the Porsche with Giuseppe Nicolosi. A lot of bad luck characterized Easy Race’s Fontana-Mancinelli and Marco Magli, that went off early on, as Magnoni-Cressoni that had to retire due to a problem to the fuel pump on their Audi R8 LMS. Nova Race’s pairing managed to bounce back in GT4 though, where they claimed the fourth win of the season on the Ginetta G 55 that led teammates Marchetti-Kauppi.
The COMPLETE CLASSIFICATION OF Race-1 can be found here
