The second victory of the season and second place in the standings. This is the outcome for Stefano Comandini, Erik Johansson and Alexander Sims in the third round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance at the circuit of Valleunga at the end of a weekend that has seen a record presence of 15.000 spectators. BMW Team Italia's drivers placed their BMW M6 GT3 ahead of the Ferrari 488 di Di Amato-Vezzoni (RS Racing) and Fisichella-Gai-Villeneuve (Scuderia Baldini 27) at the end of the three hours-long race. After the race the result has been changed by the 25s time penalty given to Di Amato-Vezzoni and to Perolini-Gersekowski-Zonzini (Lamborghini Huracan), that were fourth at the flag, as they rejoined despite the red traffic light. The new classification sees the winners Comandini-Johansson-Sims followed by Fisichella-Gai-Villenueve and Salikhov-Bulatov-Perel (Ferrari 488-Rinaldi Racing), the latter at their first race in the Italian Championship. Thanks to these 20 points Comandini and Johansson installed themselves on top of the classification leading Postiglione-Mul-Gersekowski by 16 points as the latter had to retire from the lead due to a gearbox issue.
The victory of GT Light went to Cristoni-Michelotto-Skaras (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Antonelli Motorsport), while the top step of the GT4 podium went to Magnoni-Schjerpen (Ginetta G55-Nova Race), that were followed by Ghezzi-Chiesa-Babini (Porsche Cayman-Autorlando). Cristoni and Michelotto strengthened their lead in GT Light, while Ghezzi and Chiesa confirmed their lead in GT4 ahead of Magnoni-Schjerpen and Fascicolo-Guerra-Fontana (BMW M4-BMW Team Italia), that were penalized by an issue to the braking system.
GT LIGHT ENDURANCE CLASSIFICATION
GT3: A deserved win went to Comandini-Johansson-Sims at the end of an eventful race that saw BMW Team Italia's drivers having the upper hand in the third and closing stint. At the start, Johansson got the lead but he had to concede his position to Postiglione first and Di Amato then on lap 12. At the driver change, the young Swede handed the car over to Comandini that kept P3 throughout his stint before giving the wheel to Sims for the closing stint. The British driver put in a strong performance and when the safety car left the track he managed to find his way past Cioci and take the second win of the season leading the Ferrari 488 of Di Amato-Vezzoni. After the race the RS Racing's lineup was handed a 25s time penalty for rejoining the track despite the red traffic light and this made them slip down to P5. This has been an unforgettable race for the drivers of the team based near Rome that claimed the best result of the season despite a 9s penalty for irregular change. Di Amato stayed for a long time in P2 during his stint and kept himself close to the top despite the handicap time, handing the 488 run by RS Racing to his co-equiper that managed to find his way past Cioci in the closing stages and to keep the sister car of Scuderia Baldini behind. Fisichella,Villeneuve and Gai gained open place at the end of the race following the penalty given to Di Amato-Vezzoni. They nevertheless deserved this result due to the great job done by the whole team. After the fourth place held by Villeneuve in the first part of the race, Gai kept himself close to the top but the hectic stages after the driver change that happened at the same time of the deployment of the safety car ended up in Fisichella having to serve a drive through penalty. This meant the lineup had to settle for P3, that was later on promoted to P2.
Af the end of the race, for the same reason, Perolini-Gersekowski-Zonzini were also given a 25s time penalty which relegated Imperiale Racing's drivers to P7, which promoted Salikhov-Bulatov-Perel, at their debut in the Italian GT in the Ferrari 488 run by Rinaldi Racing to P3, ahead of the Mercedes AMG GT3 of Colombo-Linossi-Kang. Antonelli Motorsport 's drivers run an exciting race and, especially thanks to the great performance of Francesca Linossi -- seventh in the first stint, and that of Stefnao Colombo that handed the car over to Ling in P5. The Chinese driver was fighting for the places at the feet of the podium but was also handed a drive through penalty and splipped down to P6 before the promotion to P4. The sixth place went to Weerts-Den Tandt (Audi R8 LMS-Audi Sport Italia) that ran a regular race that was a training for the FIA Nations Cup that will be run next November 5th.
The eighth place, behind Perolini-Gersekowski-Zonzini, went to Cioci-Veglia-Balzan, but bad luck hit hard on the Easy Race drivers that led the race for several laps. A great Veglia drove the first stint ending fifth, while Balzan got the lead of the race following Frassineti's retirement due to gearbox issues. The closing stint saw an unlucky Cioci getting a puncture when the safety car was going out and closed in P8 ahead of the Lamborghini Huracan driven by Cazzaniga-Cazzaniga-Pirri.The LP Racing's drivers run a good race despite the start from the last place due to a problem to a tyre in the formation lap, but ended ahead of Moiseev-Rovera-Agostini (Mercedes AMG GT3), that were tenth in a race that was badly affected by the unlucky first stint run by the Russian driver, and ahed of the Ferrari 488 run by AF Corse for Mann-Cressoni-Nielsen.
Some gearbox issues penalized former classification leaders Postiglione-Mul-Frassineti, that were forced to the retirement on lap 39 while leading the race. Imperiale Racing's drivers lost the classification lead and now are 16 points short of the new leaders Stefano Comandini and Erik Johansson.
GT Light: In GT Light, Cristoni-Michelotto-Skaras had led from lights to flag, which allowed Gian Piero Cristoni and Mattia Michelotto to increase their lead in the standings. The second step of the podium went to Ceresoli-Tanaka, that were at the debut in the Italian GT in the Ferrari 458 Italia run by PMA Motorsport, while Paolino-De Marchi-Littman (Lamborghini Huracan-Hiron Lynx) had to retire in the third stint due to engine issues but ended third anyway.
GT4: The duel Porsche-BMW had a new protagonist sliding in after the race held in Vallelunga. The Ginetta G55 of Magnoni-Scìhjerpen claimed, in fact, the win after the victory in the opener of Monza. The Nova Race drivers run a recovery race and climbed up from P5. Magnoni managed to find his way past Ghezzi and Neri installing himself behind Pajuranta and the leader Guerra. In the second stint Schjerpen took P2 overtaking Becagli, while Fascicolo confirmed his lead in the BMW M4 GT4. A brake issue on lap 59 forced BMW Team Italia's car to pit leaving the first place of the class to the Nova Race's car. The race seemed to be quite easy since then for the team based in Varese, but Fabio Babini, after the stints put in by Ghezzi and Chiesa, took the lead of the race on lap 68. A puncture forced the Porsche driver to the pits and handed the win to the Nova Race lineup that proceeded Autorlando's car. The third place went to another Cayman, the one run by Ebimotors for Gnemmi-Nera-Pera, that led the Maserati Gran Turismo of V-Action driven by Pajuranta-Becagli-Bernazzani and the BMW of Fascicolo-Guerra-Fontana, that are now 9 points shy of the top of the standings.
On Twitter
@CIGranTurismo
@GTavoni
www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo
www.acisport.it/CIGT
