On the track located in Romagna, the 21st edition of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship opened with two very competitive races, with the triumph of Mercedes and Lamborghini. Nurmi-Castro (GT3 PRO-AM) and Fascicolo-Ciglia (GT3 AM) won, while Pastorelli-Pezzucchi took home the victory in the GT Cup AM. The last two races of the program will take place tomorrow and will be broadcast live on ACISPORT TV and streamed on all the championship's social media platforms.
The first victories in the two races that opened the 21st edition of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship at the Misano World Circuit went to Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes AMG GT3) and Belgian Gilles Stadsbader. In GT3 race-1, the 16-year-old driver from Antonelli Motorsport came first, ahead of Liberati-Michelotto (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-VSR) and Klingmann-Spengler (BMW M4 GT3-BMW Italia/Ceccato Racing Team), while in the first race of the GT Cup class, the VSR driver finished ahead of Di Giusto-Pera (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup-Ombra Racing) and Segù-Vebster (Lamborghini Huracan-DL Racing).
The wins in the other categories went to Nurmi-Castro (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo-AF Corse) in the GT3 PRO-AM, Fascicolo-Ciglia (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-Imperiale Racing) in the GT3 AM, and Pastorelli-Pezzucchi (GT Cup AM).
GT3: Pole position, the fastest lap of the race, and victory under the checkered flag for the Italian motorsport prodigy. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a true talent, showed at his first race with a GT car managed by his father Marco's team that nothing is out of reach for him, winning in style with a lead of over 23 seconds over Liberati-Michelotto.
It was a solitary race for the 16-year-old from Bologna who, confirming his lead from the first meters, immediately pulled away from his pursuers despite the five-second handicap required by the regulations for solo drivers. Andrea Kimi had no opponents throughout the race, and under the chequered flag, he finished ahead of Liberati-Michelotto and the BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team, Klingmann-Spengler. The VSR team crew managed to claim second place four laps from the end, after a contact between D'Auria's Ferrari and Spengler's BMW M4. The Belgian driver, in third place, after several attempts to overtake the BMW driver, was a little too bold, sending his opponent into a spin and losing a position to Michelotto. D'Auria, on the other hand, slipped down to fifth but with the 25-second penalty imposed on him by the race officials at the end of the race, he finished seventh with his teammate Stuart White.
Nurmi-Castro (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo-AF Corse) finished just off the podium, winners of the PRO-AM, ahead of Petrov-Cazzaniga (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-VSR), Gnos-Greco (Honda NSX GT3 Evo-Nova Race), second in PRO-AM, White-D'Auria and Sandrucci-Kelstrup with the second Antonelli Motorsport Mercedes AMG, third in PRO-AM.
Gvazava-Denes (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-Imperiale Racing) finished ninth ahead of De Luca-Tamburini (BMW M4 GT3-BMW Italia/Ceccato Racing Team) and Mazzola-Coluccio (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo). The Best Lap team drivers reported brake problems after Mazzola's excellent start, where he was able to take fourth place at the start, but in the second stint, Coluccio could not defend the position due to a technical issue. The classification of the first race of the season was completed by Moulin-Llarena (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-VSR), who finished ahead of Fascicolo-Ciglia (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-Imperiale Racing), winners of the GT3 AM, and Magnoni-Bodellini (Honda NSX GT3 Evo-Nova Race), that were second in the GT3 AM.
GT Cup: The race for the class reserved for cars in a single-make configuration had the same script as the GT3 race, with one protagonist, this time the Belgian Gilles Stadsbader, who started from pole position and always held the lead, finishing ahead of Di Giusto-Pera.
The Ombra Racing pairing finished close behind the VSR team's representative, after a strong first stint by Di Giusto in third position and an incredible comeback by the champion from Lucca in the final stages, but a 10s penalty for track limits widened their final gap to over 11 seconds. They still finishing ahead of Webster-Segù though. The DL Racing crew, driving a Lamborghini Huracan ST, had an excellent race thanks to a strong first stint by the Swedish driver, who managed to grab second place at the start, and a second stint by Segù, who had to concede his position only to the unstoppable Pera, finishing on the third step of the podium.
In fourth place were Matteo and Giacomo Pollini (Lamborghini Huracan ST-Giacomo Race), that finished ahead of the first of the AM lineups, the Krypton Motorsport representatives, Pastorelli-Pezzucchi, the Double TT Racing crew, Colavita-Rugolo (Ferrari 488 Challenge), and Riva-Fabi (Lamborghini Huracan ST-DL Racing), second in the AM category. Ignazio Zanon finished in eighth place, third in the AM category with the VSR Lamborghini Huracan ST, ahead of the two Best Lap Ferrari Challenge Evo driven by Patrinicola-Demarchi, who climbed from the 19th starting position, and Nicoli-Scarpetta.
Noteworthy was also the incredible comeback in the second stint by Vito Postiglione, paired with Pablo Biolghini (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup-Racevent), who climbed from 24th place to 12th place at the finish behind Parisotto-Bacci (Ferrari 488 Challenge-SR&R). Unfortunately, Pisani-Zerbi retired due to a driveshaft failure after a strong first stint by the Genoese driver who fought for the top five positions, and Marzialetti-D'Aniello (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Best Lap) were forced to retire in the early stages of the race due to an ABS problem.
Program and TV: Two races are scheduled for tomorrow, at 13:40 (GT3) and at 15:00 (GT Cup), both lasting 50 minutes + 1 lap, with a live broadcast on Acisport TV (SKY 228), on the website www.acisport.it/CIGT, on the championship's social media, and with delayed broadcast on Raisport (only for the GT3 race) on Monday at 6:30 pm. Admission to the circuit will be free of charge and open to the public tomorrow.
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