Oregon Team’s Dorian Boccolacci and Kevin Gilardoni made it two wins in a row in the second race of the weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the third round of the 2020 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season. Having taken their maiden race win on Saturday, the Franco-Swiss pairing again profited from a penalty for the #33 Lamborghini Huracán of Dean Stoneman and Patrick Kujala (Bonaldi Motorsport), but now find themselves firmly in championship contention ahead of the next round at Spa-Francorchamps in two weeks’ time. Currenly Stoneman leads the Pro standings just one point ahead of Boccolacci and Gilardoni.
Gilardoni started the #11 Oregon Team Huracán from sixth on the grid but already made up two positions inside the opening 10 minutes of the 50-minute race. Unfortunately, erstwhile championship leaders, Miloš Pavlović and Raul Guzman (#41 Target Racing) were unable to take the start following a technical problem, while the #2 Leipert Motorsport car of Noah Watt and Sebastian Balthasar was handed a drivethrough penalty for contact with Stoneman before the start.
Stoneman, who was tied at the top of the standings with Pavlović and Guzman on 53 points coming into the race, knew he needed to score well in the absence of his chief title rivals and followed the pole-sitting #9 Target Racing car of Alberto di Folco and Kevin Rossel either side of the pit window.
But luck was not on their side during the Barcelona weekend as the car was deemed to have sped in the pitlane and therefore had to serve a costly drivethrough penalty. Stoneman, having taken over from Kujala in the mandatory driver-change pit-stops, did however finish fourth at the end and thus, taking the lead of the championship.
Rossel swapped with di Folco and initially maintained the lead before going very wide at the long Turn 3 corner, handing the temporary lead to Stoneman while also losing second place to Boccolacci. Boccolacci then inherited the lead when Stoneman came into the pits for a second time, eventually going on to win from Sebsatian Fernandez (#6 VS Racing), who drove an excellent race to claim a podium on his first weekend in Super Trofeo. Jonathan Cecotto and Patrick completed the overall podium in their GSM Racing Huracán.
Having endured a difficult Race 1, VS Racing’s Karol Basz and Andrzej Lewandowski returned to form in the Pro-Am class, taking the victory with sixth overall in their #16 VS Racing Huracán. Basz started the race and challenged the podium positions before the pit window opened. Lewandowski took over and put in a solid stint to hold off a charging Max Weering (#61 Johan Kraan Motorsports) to the flag. Oregon Team’s Victor Franzoni da Silva and Lorenzo Bontempelli finished second in class, while Leipert Motorsport’s Mikko Eskelinen and Elias Niskanen finished third.
In the Am class, Fidel Leib and Yury Wagner (#21 Leipert Motorsport) came out on top in a race-long battle with Massimo Mantovani and Dilantha Malagamuwa (#51 Target Racing). Wagner held the lead at the beginning of the race, while Mantovani put in a typical second stint charge to finish just five second adrift of the class win at the end. Hans Fabri won the LB Cup class, beating Micanek Motorsports ACCR Kurt Wagner and Libor Dvoracek.
Next up for Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe is the famous Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium on the weekend of 20-24 October. A staple of the Super Trofeo Europe calendar, the championship runs on the support bill of the Total 24 Hours of Spa, providing one of the biggest challenges of the year for our drivers and teams.
Kevin Gilardoni (Oregon Team #11): “Two victories in a row, it’s amazing. Yesterday it was a different taste as I was in the car at the end and today, I was in at the start. My team-mate did such a mega job and the car was absolutely perfect. At the beginning, I was fighting a little bit with the car but after that, it was so consistent, and Dorian finished off the job. We are so happy for the team today.”
Dorian Boccolacci (Oregon Team #11): “I was feeling really good [out of the pits] because when [Kujala] went out, I caught him quite quickly and got past the #9 who went wide. I think I would have been able to recover the gap. I pushed a lot when I was in the car and I put in some very good lap-times and I am just so happy for the team.”
Lamborghini Super Trofeo – 2020 Calendar
Round 1: Misano Adriatico, 7-9th August
Round 2: Nürburgring, 4-5th September
Round 3: Barcelona, 9-11th October
Round 4: Spa-Francorchamps, 20-24th October
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