The third round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series kicked off the weekend with a caution-free event run at the 11-turn, 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International.
A total of 16 HuracánSuper Trofeo Evos took the green flag with P1 Motorsports, Lamborghini Broward’s Loris Spinelli leading the field to speed. Spinelli, and his teammate JC Perez, came into the race with momentum after winning last week’s first race in the pair of races at the Misano World Circuit in Italy.
Spinelli jumped to the lead with a fast start in the No. 71 and built a lead of more than three seconds over second place Trent Hindman in the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus entry over the first seven laps. Edoardo Piscopo driving the No. 50 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills machine rounded out the top three until the mandatory pit window opened on lap 11.
Spinelli pushed his drive time in the Lamborghini to the limit, pitting on lap 16 to turn the car over to his teammate JC Perez. The lap prior, Piscopo hit pit lane and turned the car over to his co-driver Taylor Proto in hopes of closing the gap on the leader.
Once the pit-stop cycle was complete, the No. 50 of Proto would come out in front of Perez’s No. 71 and hold the lead through the remainder of the race. However, despite taking the checkered flag first, Proto and the No. 50 US RaceTronics team would not take home the overall trophy. The team was assessed a 7.5 seconds penalty for a short pit stop.
That post-race assessed penalty would hand the overall and ProAm class victory to Perez, Spinelli and the No. 71 P1 Motorsports team. Proto and Piscopo would settle for second, with Hindman and co-driver Jonathan Cecotto in the No. 1 completing the overall podium.
The overall finish was not the only one affected by penalties for a short pit stop.
The AM class saw Brian Thienes in the No. 17 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills cross the finish line first, but a 2.1-second penalty for a short pit stop would hand Ryan Hardwick in the No. 2 Dream Racing Motorsport, Lamborghini Atlanta the class victory. Damon Ockey in the No. 09 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Calgary, who was also assessed a 1.8-second penalty for a short pit stop rounded out the AM class podium.
Brett Meredith in the No. 66 GMG Racing, Lamborghini Newport Beach led the LB Cup class at the drop of the green flag, but pitted on lap 12 while the No. 88 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini La Jolla of Parris Mullins continued. Mullins would extend his lead over the rest of the AM class and after pitting on lap 15, handing the No. 88 over to co-driver Mark Proto. Meredith would be unable to close the gap and would finish in second. Sheena Monk in the No. 7 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus would round out the class podium.
The weekend’s second race will take place Saturday morning at 10:20 a.m. ET with Shinya Michimi in the No. 46 PPM Lamborghini Palm Beach on the pole. It can be streamed live IMSA.TV and squadracorse.lamborghini.com/live-streaming.
DRIVERS’ QUOTES
JC Perez/ P1 Motorsports (1st Overall and PRO-AM):
“Our run today was super weird. We made a mistake at the pit stop and lost our lap and five seconds and I didn’t think I would be able to recover from that. I was able to push and fortunately the car in front of me had a penalty and it gave us the lead. It was a tough race and probably one of the best drives I have done in my life. My team P1, did an amazing job. The car was solid all the way through. Loris did an amazing job and unfortunately, we lost the lead to a bad pit stop. We are going to focus on tomorrow and continue to work. I want to thank Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Pirelli for all the support and I can’t wait for the race tomorrow.
Taylor Proto/ US RaceTronics (1st PRO):
“We had a pretty strong first half. Edoardo was able to get into his pace and move up a position. Then he was consistent and kept building our gap bit-by-bit. In our pit stop we had a bit of chaos as we had a miscalibrated pit stop timer. When we were released we were two seconds up and that mistake led to a seven-second penalty. I tried my hardest to mitigate that and sadly, we lost the overall lead but were able to keep the lead in our class. Hopefully that will be able to help us with the points race. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we are looking at tire and brake conservation. With the heat, we are definitely keeping the car in a good shape for the second half and that is going to be a key for a good result in the second half.”
Ryan Hardwick/ Dream Racing (1st AM):
“That was an interesting race. I didn’t have the best start and then at the pit stop, I fell behind to third. I wasn’t sure how I fell to third, but the two cars in front of me went too fast in their pit stops on a penalty. So, my job on the last laps was to close and I was able to get around Damon Ockey and we had an amazing battle. It was good racing – back and forth. When I able to get around him, I was able to catch Brian (Thienes) and got on his bumper and stayed there as I knew we would get the win.”
Parris Mullins/ US Racetronics (1st LB Cup):
“The Glen is a really tough track. We raced here last year, but didn’t do any testing here leading up to this race. The rain was an issue so qualifying was when we were able to get out there and try to kill it. Brett Meredith did a great job on the start and I tried to make a move there and stayed behind him. When I handed the car over to Mark (Proto), he just killed it. He dealt really well with lap traffic and he kept that gap that we needed and because of him we brought it home. Big win for us and my teammate.”
Source. Lamborghini
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