21.05.2019 – A spectacular win and the third place in Pro-Am are the haul of Imperiale Racing at the Misano World Circuit during the second round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance 2019.
After the round in Monza, where the driver lineups fielded by the Italian team have shown a great potential, Imperiale Racing faced the second round of the exciting Italian endurance series for grand touring cars with two Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo: the #63 car driven by Vito Postiglione (ITA), Jeroen Mul (NL) and Alex Frassineti (ITA) in PRO, and the #19 in Pro-Am with Pietro Perolini (ITA), Ben Gersekowski (AUS) and Emanuele Zonzini (RSM) behind the wheel.
Free practice on Friday was run on the dry, but the weekend was characterized by rain that affected qualifying and two-thirds of the race. Following the great partial times put in by Frassineti and Mul in Q1 and Q2, Postiglione could not battle with the drivers that decided to bet on slick tyres in Q3 and this qualified the #63 car in fifth place with a combined time of 4’56.948s. The qualifying of the #19 car has also been positive, as Perolini, Gersekowski and Zonzini — the latter at the debut with Imperiale Racing — ending eighth overall and third in Pro-Am with a combined time of 4’59.652s.
The race started behind the safety car due to heavy rain falling on the circuit named after Marco Simoncelli. At the start of the race, Postiglione installed the #63 car on top of the race on lap nine and then kept his momentum with a flawless stint eventually handing the car over to Frassineti with a good margin on the second. The Italian driver continued the race on a good pace which allowed the team to reach the final pit-stop with a big margin on the rivals. Mul drove through the closing stint on the drying up circuit and Imperiale Racing’s lineup kept the lead securing a well-deserved win at the chequered flag.
The performance of the #19 car has also been exciting and positive. Zonzini has been a protagonist in the melee of the start and displayed a great adaptation to the car recovering several places. Some issues at the pit stop caused by the stop a bit ahead of the expected position made the lineup lose some seconds but Perolini has been very effective in the mid part of the race on the wet. Gersekowski defended his place strongly in the last hour and managed to get the most of every chance to claim the second Pro-Am podium in a row ending third in the category and seventh overall.
Luca Del Grosso (Imperiale Racing, Team Manager):
“We had a positive weekend and this was not easy on such weather that made things tricky. Vito, Alex and Jeroen put in a perfect job on the #63 car and this remarkable performance placed them on top of the classification, even though by a small margin. Pietro, Ben and a great Emanuele secured another podium in Pro-Am despite the high level of this category. They managed the race with great cool and experience. As said in other occasions, this great result is important to reward the focus of the whole team but it is only one step along our path: we will keep our attention high as the Italian GT Championship Endurance does not allow for wrong steps”.
Imperiale Racing will be back on track for the Italian GT Championship Sprint series next June 21-23rd at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola. The third round of the Endurance series will take place in Vallelunga next September 13-15th.
Imperiale Racing | Calendario gare 2019
5-7 April | Monza | CIGTE
3-5 May | Vallelunga | CIGTS
17-19 May | Misano CIGTE
21-23 June | Imola | CIGTS
19-21 July | Mugello | CIGTS
13-15 September | Vallelunga | CIGTE
4-6 October | Mugello | CIGTE
18-20 October | Monza | CIGTS
