Jelmini-Frassineti (Honda NSX GT3) are unbeatable in the rain and win the 3rd round of the Italian GT Endurance championship in Imola

The Team Nova Race drivers won a reduced race due to the heavy rain. The victory in GT Cup went to Lambrughi-La Mazza-Segattini (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo2).

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The third round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship, held at the Imola Circuit, concluded with a victory for Felice Jelmini and Alex Frassineti (Honda NSX GT3). The Nova Race team triumphed in a challenging race marked by numerous incidents, multiple safety cars, and a stoppage at the 104th minute (38 laps). The track became unmanageable because of heavy rain. They finished ahead of Comandini-Denes-Guerra (BMW M4 GT3 - BMW Italia/Ceccato Racing Team) and Cazzaniga-Di Folco-Liberati (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2), who are now the new overall championship leaders.

The class victories went to Cassarà-De Luca-Nilsson (GT3 PRO-AM), Ferri-Bodellini-Marchetti (GT3 AM), Lambrughi-La Mazza-Segattini (GT Cup Pro-Am 1st Division), Mainetti-Gattuso-Riva (GT Cup AM 1st Division), Berton-Laurini-Peroni (GT Cup Pro-AM 2nd Division), and Knez-Fontana-Hofmann (GT Cup AM 2nd Division).

GT3: This race was the toughest of the season, with heavy rain forcing the race to start under safety car conditions and with several neutralizations leading up to an early red flag, which sent the cars to the pit lane. After the restart, again under safety car conditions, even heavier rain followed. After another series of safety cars and a Full Course Yellow, the race was finally stopped, awarding the win to Jelmini-Frassineti, driving the Honda NSX GT3, expertly tuned for the wet conditions by the Nova Race team. Frassineti kept close to Liberati and Fisichella during the first stint, while Jelmini performed well in the second stint, maintaining position, allowing Frassineti to take the lead in the third stint before the final stoppage.

Behind the Nova Race team, the BMW drivers Comandini-Denes-Guerra finished in second place after a stunning recovery, gaining eleven positions. Cazzaniga-Di Folco-Liberati, despite a 24-second penalty at the driver change due to their results in Vallelunga and Mugello, secured a strong third-place finish in the championship standings, along with eight points earned at the 100th minute, according to the 2024 regulations. The VSR team will head to the final round in Monza with a two-point lead over Fisichella-Leclerc-Mosca (Ferrari 296 GT3), who finished fourth at Imola, ahead of the second BMW driven by Cassarà-De Luca-Nilsson, first in GT3 PRO-AM, also recovering from a 14th place start.

The winners of the last race at Mugello, Ponzio-Gai-Mac (Ferrari 296 GT3), also had a great race, and with the eight points they earned, they moved up to third in the standings, eight points behind the championship leaders. The AF Corse team finished ahead of Ferri-Bodellini-Marchetti (Mercedes AMG GT3-Nova Race), seventh overall and first in GT3 AM, rising from a 21st place start, finishing ahead of Zanon-Stadsbader-Michelotto (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2-VSR), Scholze-Mukovoz-Patrese (Audi R8 LMS-Tresor/Attempto Racing), and Pavlovic-Spengler-Sanporn (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2-Ecoleaf).

However, bad luck struck the other two Tresor-Audi Sport Italia teams, both in contention for the title before the Imola race. Mazzola-Delli Guanti-Aka retired due to an accident on lap 20, and Cola-Moncini-Van Berlo, 13th overall, fell out of the top ten in the final part of the race.

GT Cup: The class reserved for single-make cars also faced fierce competition and difficulties due to heavy rain, with Easy Race securing their first win of the season. The team fielded an unprecedented line-up of Francesco La Mazza, Emma Segattini, and Jody Lambrughi, finishing 11th overall after starting from the 16th row. They finished ahead of Demarchi-Di Mare-Patrinicola (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo2-Best Lap), who gained a handful of points over the leaders of the PRO-AM 1st Division standings, Segù-Caiola, who were joined at Imola by Andrea Fontana (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-DL Racing), finishing fourth at the line.

In the AM 1st Division, the victory went to Mainetti-Gattuso-Riva (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-DL Racing), who now lead the overall standings, where a close battle with D’Auria-Clementi Pisani-Bolger (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-HC Racing Division) is emerging. They finished second, ahead of Mendez-Anapoli-Barbolini (Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2-Invictus Corse), achieving their best result of the season. Fourth place went to Agoglia-Croccolino-Marzialetti (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo2-Best Lap).

In the 2nd Division, reserved for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars, Berton-Laurini-Peroni (Racevent) claimed their third win of the season in PRO-AM, finishing ahead of Nicolosi-Di Benedetto-Cazzaniga (Ebimotors), while in the AM class, Knez-Fontana-Hofmann (Centri Porsche Ticino) took the top step of the podium, finishing ahead of Van Der Sloot-Buratti (EF Racing).

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THE TWO BMW M4 GT3 OF COMANDINI-DENES-GUERRA, THAT WERE SECOND OVERALL AND CASSARA'-DE LUCA-NILSSON, FIRST OF GT3 PRO-AM

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LAMBRUGHI-LA MAZZA-SEGATTINI (FERRARI 488 CHALLENGE EVO2-EASY RACE), ARE THE FIRST OF GT CUP