Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera are the winners of the Italian GT Sprint Championship 2019 in the Mercedes AMG GT3. This is the outcome of the 2nd race of the 4th and closing round of the series held at the Monza Ani Circuit. Antonelli Motorsport’s drivers won a great race leading the BMW M6 GT3 of Comandini-Johansson and the Ferrari 488 of Fuoco-Hudspeth (AF Corse). The second place in the race earned BMW Team Italia’s lineup to be second in the championship, leading Postiglione-Mul (Lamborghini Huracan-Imperiale Racing), that were sixth at the chequered flag.
In GT4 the top step of the podium went to Piccioli-Pera (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors), while Lippi-Sernagiotto (Ferrari 458 Italia-Iron Lynx/RAM Autoracing) won GT Light and GT Cup was won by D’Aste-Tarabini (Lotus Exige V6 Cup R-PB Racing).
GT LIGHT SPRINT CLASSIFICATION
GT3: Two pole positions, two fastest lap of the race, victory in race-2 a title. Riccardo Agostini and Alessio Rovera could not have a better weekend in the closing round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship. Antonelli Motorsport’s pairing dominated race-2 thanks to a wise pit strategy that saw the car pitting when the rain started to fall.
Agostini kept the lead for a long time with Mul on his tail, but the latter managed to get past on lap 10 getting the most of two lapped drivers. At the driver change, Rovera rejoined behind Postiglione, who took over from the Dutch driver, but the safety car was deployed on lap 19 to recover the Audi R8 of Fontana that was stranded at the Parabolica. When the rain started to fall a lot of cars pitted, among these Rovera’s, to fit the rain tyres, while Postiglione opted to keep the slick tyres on. As the rain increased, Imperiale Racing’s driver has been amazing to keep the car on track, but conditions were extreme. On lap 23 it was impossible to keep using slick tyres and Postiglione went long at the Ascari chicane and spun at the Parabolica, handing the lead over to Rovera. Once in the lead, the driver from Varese pulled away from Johansson, who took over from Comandini, and ended his effort 8s clear of the BMW Team Italia driver, while Fuoco-Hudspeth (Ferrari 488) were third after an unlucky stint of the driver from Singapore and a splendid comeback of the Italian driver. The category victory handed AF Corse’s pairing the GT3 Pro-Am title.
Another Mercedes AMG GT3, that driven by Nicola Baldan, ended close to the podium, but the great performance put in by Antonelli Motorsport’s driver could have even been better without the 5s time penalty given for cutting a chicane. The driver from Padova ended the race ahead of the BMW M6 GT3 of Zugg-Piana and the Lamborghini of Postiglione-Mul, that slipped down to the back after handing the car over to Rovera.
The seventh place went to the Ferrari 488 of Veglia-Crestani, but Easy Race’s lineup was in P3 when six laps were left, but an excursion in the sand in the closing laps vanished this. Another 488, the one driven by Di Amato-Vezzoni, was eighth and allowed RS Racing’s pairing to end the GT3 Pro-Am championship in the second position, leading the sister car of Cressoni-Mann (AF Corse) and the Lamborghini Huracan (Imperiale Racing) of Perolini-Gersekowski. The thirteenth place went to race-1 winners Abe-Colombo (Ferrari 488-AF Corse), that led Cuneo-Magnoni (Lamborghini Huracan-LP Racing), as the latter claimed the GT3 Am title, while a lot of bad luck affected the performance of the Audi R8 LMS of Fontana-Dromedari, that retired on lap 15 due to electrical issues.
GT 4: The Italian title had been assigned in race-1 to Riccitelli-De Castro (Porsche Cayman) and race-2 saw another lineup of Ebimotors winning the race: Gianluigi Piccioli and Riccardo Pera. The driver from Tuscany, who has been competing in WEC for Team Proton this year, came to the fore in the second stint and recovered five positions, ending the race ahead of the new Italian Champions Riccitelli-De Castro and Magnoni-Garbelli (Mercedes AMG GT4). The fourth place went to Guerra-Fascicolo (BMW M4 GT4-BMW Team Italia), that are second in the classification, and were followed by Ghezzi-Camathias (Porsche Cayman), that are third in the final classification. The Autorlando’s drivers dominated the first part of the race with the Swiss driver leading the pack and they led team-mates Cerati-Chiesa and Pajuranta-Rodrigues (Maserati Gran Turismo-V-Action) at the flag. The GT4 classification is completed by Baruchelli-Bravetti (Porsche 997-Autorlando) and Marchetti-Mantori (Mercedes AMG GT4).
GT LIGHT: Seven wins in eight races. This is the final haul of the fantastic season of Lippi-Sernagiotto (Ferrari 458 Italia) in GT Light, that won the title in Mugello. Iron Lynx-RAM Autoracing’s drivers got on the top step of the podium in the closing race leading the sixteen years old Mattia Michelotto (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Antonelli Motorsport), who is the new Italian Champion in Endurance, and team-mates Paolino-Jirik (Lamborghini Huracan ST).
A good P17 in race-2 welcomed the debut in GT Cup of the Lotus Exige V6 Cup R ran by PB Racing for D’Aste-Tarabini.
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