ALTOE AND VAN UITERT START THE TENTH EDITION OF THE LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO EUROPE WITH A WIN AT MONZA
The tenth edition of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe got underway from Monza with a line-up of 48 cars, which was a record number of appearances on the Brianza circuit for the one-make series of the House of Sant’Agata Bolognese, which coincided with the continental debut of the new Huracán Super Trofeo Evo.
The first race of the opening round of the calendar offered so much entertainment, with the two rookies Giacomo Altoè and Job Van Uitert that took the win after an end full of surprises. For the crew of Antonelli Motorsport, the victory took place on the finish straight, after a sprint that saw the Dutchman overtake James Pull (Bonaldi Motorsport) just before the finish line. The latter, paired with Kelvin Snoeks, had inherited the lead a minute and a half from the end of the time, when the Pole Karol Basz, who firmly maintained the leading position after taking over the wheel from his co-driver Vito Postiglione (who had scored the pole with Imperiale Racing and was always ahead of everyone in the first driving “stint”), was forced to slow down remarkably. Kikko Galbiati and Joffrey De Narda also took the podium with the sister car of Antonelli Motorsport. The new duo of VS Racing formed by Takashi Kasai and Philipp Wlazik instead scored a fourth-place finish and a win in the PRO-AM category. In the AM, the victory went to Raffaele Giannoni (Automobile Tricolore), after a penalty was inflicted on the Swiss of Autovitesse, Cedric Leimer. The Thai Supachai Weeraborwornpong won in the Lamborghini Cup with the Team Lazarus.
Many were the protagonists of the first of the six double rounds of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe. Postiglione and the 2016 PRO champion Dennis Lind (Target Racing) took the two pole positions in qualifying. At the start, Postiglione maintained the lead ahead of Axcil Jefferies (Konrad Motorsport) and Snoeks, while Rik Breukers moved up to fourth position with the Lamborghini of GDL Racing, after overtaking that of Loris Spinelli (Antonelli Motorsport). Patrick Kujala (Bonaldi Motorsport) also managed to reach the leading positions.
Everything went on without major upheavals until after the pit-stops. It was then that the intervention of the first safety car of the season became necessary because of the car of Povesian Matiazi and Renato Silveira Braga (Artline Racing) that stopped at the entrance of the first variant, where a multiple contact took place almost simultaneously, involving other three drivers.
After almost ten minutes of neutralization, the lead was taken by Basz, who had taken over the wheel from Postiglione. Behind him were Pull and the car of VS Racing shared by Felipe Ortiz and Tuomas Tujula, who climbed to third position after an excellent initial recovery but were then forced to stop. This was the first of a series of unexpected events that affected an surprising end.
Fredrik Bomstedt, who shared the wheel with Kujala, debuted in the series with a fifth place overall. Lucas Mauron and Luca Rettenbacher (MSG Motorsport) concluded sixth. Behind them, the first ten positions were completed by Giannoni, Leimer, the other duo of Imperiale Racing formed by Massimo Mantovani and the young rookie Davide Venditti and the Scandinavian pair composed by Lind and Simon Larsson.
Race 2 will kick off tomorrow at 12:20 p.m. and will be available in live streaming on the website squadracorse.lamborghini.com/live-streaming and on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/LamborghiniSquadraCorse
DRIVERS’ QUOTES
Giacomo Altoè/Antonelli Motorsport (1st overall and PRO): “We had a bit of luck to win at the last meter. But so are the races. We were very careful to preserve the car until the last minute and were rewarded in the end”.
Philipp Wlazik/VS Racing (1st PRO-AM): “I’m really happy to have started the season with the Vincenzo Sospiri team with this victory and fourth place overall. The race was very tough, also because of the heat, but we managed to finish it in the best possible way”.
Raffaele Giannoni/Automobile Tricolore (1st AM): “It was a very intense race because I started 29th and finished seventh overall and took a class victory. I managed to set a great pace and do a lot of overtaking. It was really fantastic!”.
Supachai Weeraborwornpong/Team Lazarus (1st Lamborghini Cup): “This was my debuting race in the European series and also the first one here at Monza. It was a very tough race, which I was able to manage well. I’m happy to have started the season in this way”.
Source. Lamborghini
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