Mattia Drudi and Riccardo Agostini (Audi R8 LMS) won race-1 of the second round of the Italian GT Championship at the Mugello Circuit. Audi Sport Italia’s drivers got on the top step of the podium and led the two VSR pairings Nemoto-Tujula, that were the first of GT3 PRO-AM, and Kroes-Pulcini, while the AM classification was won by Habib Fadel (Porsche GT3R-Dinamic Motorsport). The victory in GT4 went to De Amicis-Di Giusto (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors), while that of GT Cup went to Greco-Chiesa (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Easy Race). Race-2 will get underway tomorrow at 17.15 with live coverage on MS Motor TV (Sky 228) and streaming from www.acisport.it/CIGT and www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo.

RACE-1 CLASSIFICATION

GT3: A well-deserved victory at the end of an eventful race with difficult track conditions with slick and wet tyres and the safety car was claimed by Mattia Drudi and Riccardo Agostini. Despite the 20s handicap served for the great result scored in Misano, the Audi Sport Italia’s drivers were unbeatable gaining the second win on the challenging circuit of Mugello after that claimed in the opener of the Endurance Series. The victory went when two laps were left as Drudi had the upper hand on Tujula and took a victory that allowed his co-equiper Agostini to pull away in the classification. After the first stint driven by Agostini, who ended his effort in P7 despite the 20s handicap time to serve, Drudi recovered several positions and moved the decisive attack in the final stages finding his way past Spinelli first and Tujula then, who shared driving duties in the Huracan with Yuki Nemoto. The Vincenzo Sospiri Racing pairing was the first of GT3 PRO-AM. They run a good race since the initial stages when the young Japanese driver who started from the pole position managed well a very difficult race stage exchanging on top with his teammate Kroes. Tujula completed afterwards a nearly perfect race conceding his place to Drudi, who was unstoppable today. The third step of the podium went to VSR’s Kroes-Pulcini. The Dutch driver has always been within the top two but wasted some time behind a lapped driver at the opening of the pit window, which forced Pulcini to a difficult recovery. The young Italian driver from P7 climbed up to a podium position and was very skilled finding his way past Spinelli for a deserved P3.

Ferrari-Spinelli were at the feet of the podium. The young – just 17 years old – driver from Piacenza kept himself within P3 in the first stint. He lost the position to Spinelli in the finale and led Venturini-Galbiati. The Imperiale Racing drivers could aim to something better, but an additional tyre change in the first stint and the battle when the safety car was deployed, which stripped him of a podium finish. In the second stint when Galbiati was second at a restart, he tried to attack Tujula, but the young Italian was stuck in the battle at the San Donato, Luco and Poggio Secco and he slipped down to P6. At the flag, the Imperiale Racing drivers led the three Ferrari 488 driven by Mann-Cressoni (AF Corse), that were second in PRO-AM, Michelotto-Hudspeth (Easy Race), that were third of PRO-AM, and Roda-Rovera (AF Corse), that had setup issues and struggled in Misano. The top ten was completed by Cazzaniga-Marcucci (Lamborghini Huracan-LP Racing) and Di Amato-Vezzoni (Ferrari 488-RS Racing) that were fourth and fifth in GT3 PRO-AM.

The AM category was won by the driver from Lebanon Habib Fadel, who was 11th overall and led teammates Cassarà-De Giacomi, in the Porsche GT3 R of Team Dinamic. A lot of bad luck affected BMW Team Italia’s Comandini-Zug (BMW M6 GT3), that spun out due to a contact in the early stages after a good start put in by Comandini and got beached in the first stint. Alessandro Baccani (Porsche GT3R-Ebimotors) competed alone due to a physical problem that affected his co-equipier Paolo Venerosi, who retired due to a tyre problem at the beginning of the second stint.

GT4: Debut and maiden win for Alberto De Amicis and Mattia Di Giusto. After competing in the Endurance races, the Ebimotors drivers decided to partake also in the Sprint series. This was a rather wise decision as they put in a great performance and won AM following a good first stint put in by Di Giusto, behind his teammate Pera and ahead of Andrea Belicchi. In the second part of the race, De Amici found his way past Gnemmi , taking the lead and running towards an unexpected win. He led Belicchi-Vullo (Mercedes AMG GT4-Villorba Corse) and teammates Gnemmi-Pera. The fourth place went to BMW Team Italia’s Riccitelli-Guerra (BMW M4 GT4), that led the two Cayman of Piccioli-De Castro (Ebimotors) and Vebster-Riva (Centro Porsche Ticino), the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Segù-De Luca (Nova Race), the BMW M4 of Paolo Meloni (W&D Racing Team) and the Mercedes AMG GT4 of Luca Magnoni (Nova Race).

GT CUP: Matteo Greco and Riccardo Chiesa took a strong win behind the wheel of the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Easy Race. The provisional classification leaders, after the pole position set by Greco, led the race throughout and their rivals Cristoni-Demarchi (Ferrari 488 Challenge) and Carboni-Sauto (Porsche 991 4.0) had to settle for a position behind them. The Duell Race drivers kept P2 in the first stint, but then they conceded it to the SR&R drivers that kept it to the flag.

On Twitter

@CIGranTurismo

@GTavoni

www.acisport.it/CIGT

www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo