Basz-Hites-Michelotto (Lamborghini Huracan GT3) win the 1st race of the Italian GT Endurance Championship in Pergusa

Team VSR scored a one-two with Beretta-Liberati-Nemoto second and leading the Honda NSX GT3 of Moncini-Guidetti-Cabezas, while the victory of GT Cup went to the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Coluccio-Mazzola.
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The Lamborghini Huracans GT3 of VSR have been uncatchable also in the race as in qualifying. The final order of the first race of the Italian GT Endurance Championship held at the circuit of Pergusa was dominated by the green cars of the team led by Vincenzo Sospiri, which locked out the top 2 with Basz-Hites-Michelotto and Beretta-Liberati-Nemoto, while the third place went to Moncini-Guidetti-Cabezas behind the wheel of the Honda NSX GT3 of Nova Race.

Close to the podium were Pijl-Guzman (Lamborghini Huracan GT3-Imperiale Racing), which led the third VSR car driven by Cola-Moulin, which won PRO-AM proceeding the GT Cup winners Coluccio-Mazzola (Ferrari 488 Challenge). The Easy Race drivers always led the GT Cup class and closed the race leading the sister car run by SR&R and driven by Buttarelli-Cossu-Bacci. The latter won GT Cup-AM, while GT3 AM was won by Magnoni-Di Fabio (Honda NSX GT3-Nova Race).

GT3: VSR had a great weekend as the team managed to place three cars in the top five. The victory of Basz-Hites-Michelotto came in the closing stages of the race that have been very exciting with a duel for the win that involved two VSR cars and also the strong Nova Race’s Moncini-Guidetti-Cabezas.

It has been a very exciting, but fair, duel that saw Michelotto having the upper hand after his teammate Nemoto, who took over from Liberati and Beretta, could not defend the lead due to a pressure loss to his left front tyre. The Japanese driver managed to defend P2 and crossed the finish line ahead of the Honda of the Spanish driver Cabezas, who put in a solid third stint after a good start from Guidetti and a great central stint by Moncini.

The gap of just over a second among the top three says a lot about the competitiveness of the protagonists in the closing laps. Liberati in the first stint displayed the great competitiveness of the Lambos; despite the safety car he managed to fend off Guidetti first and his teammate Basz afterwards. In the second stint, the green Huracans dominated the race again, even though with inverted positions, with Hites, who took over from Basz, lead Beretta – who shared driving duties with Liberati – but the latter managed to get the lead of the race on lap 35 and then launched Nemoto’s third and decisive stint.

At the feet of the podium was another Lamborghini, that of Imperiale Racing driven by Pijl-Guzman, which led the third Huracan of the team led by Vincenzo Sospiri and driven by Cola-Moulin and the BMW M4 GT3 of Comandini-Fascicolo-Nilsson. The BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team’s drivers were penalized by a puncture in the initial stages of the race after contact with Fascicolo behind the wheel at the start. Rejoined from the pits, Comandini and the young Swede tried an impossible comeback, ending second in PRO-AM behind the winners Cola-Moulin.

The tenth overall time and first of GT3 AM went to Magnoni-Di Fabio at the end of the two hours-long race, the second Honda NSX GT3 of Nova Race led the Mercedes AMG GT3 of Pesce-Rappange (Antonelli Motorsport), that were third in PRO-AM. The second car fielded by the team based in Bologna, that driven by Scholze-Galbiati, had to retire early on when the German driver had a violent exit in the tyre wall at a chicane.

GT CUP: The victory of Luigi Coluccio and Rocco Mazzola in GT Cup was never threatened. The Easy Race’s driver set the best time in qualifying and took the lead with Coluccio and then pulled away installing themselves also in the overall top positions.

At the drivers’ change, things did not change and Mazzola kept the momentum confirming the P5 before handing the car over to his co-equiper that ended the race in sixth overall and first in GT Cup. “We are really happy for this first win in the Endurance series - Easy Race’s drivers declared at the end of the race – which comes after the two podiums claimed in Monza’s Sprint series. Things went well today and we have to thank the whole team that did a great job during the weekend”. They celebrated the victory on the podium with Donno-Risitano-Menichini (Ferrari 488 Challenge-Best Lap) and Pavlovic-Fishbaum-Vairani (Lamborghini Huracan St-Bonaldi Motorsport).

AM was also won by a Ferrari with Buttarelli-Cossu-Bacci placing the 488 Challenge of SR&R on the top step of the podium leading the Porsche 991 GT3 Cup Gen II of Locanto-Rodio-Pezzucchi despite a problem with the fuel pressure that affected the performance of the Krypton Motorsport drivers, while the third place went to the Lamborghini Huracan ST of Team Italy driven by Becagli-Castillo Ruiz-La Mazza. They led the sister car of Team Lazarus driven by Bozzoni-Del Monte, which was penalized by 4 minutes following an irregular drivers’ change, and the Ferrari 458 Challenge of “Aramis” Baratto-Pennisi (SR&R). Gattuso-Mainetti-Riva (Porsche 991 GT3 Cup Gen II) had to retire due to failure of the axle-shaft when holding P3 in PRO-AM.

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The duel between the two Lamborghini of VSR and the Honda of Nova Race in the closing stages

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The GT Cup PRO-AM winners Coluccio-Mazzola (Ferrari 488 Challenge)