26.03.2019 – Imperiale Racing’s season will kick off this coming weekend at the 12 Hours of Mugello, the opener of 24H Series European Championship.
The Italian outfit will field the #32 Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 in the highest class A6-PRO with Vito Postiglione (ITA), Kikko Galbiati (ITA) and Jaromir Jirik (CZ) behind the wheel. The Italian round is going to be the opener of this important International series promoted by Creventic, which confirmed its popularity with 56 lineups at the start, 19 GT3 cars for a very exciting challenge on a very technical circuit like Mugello.
Imperiale Racing drivers’ lineup is going to be new. Vito Postiglione, Imperiale Racing works driver since 2016, is one of the most experienced of the lot on GT cars. He was close to taking the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe twice and came third in 2017 and second in 2018. He took part in the International GT Open 2017 with the Italian outfit and closed the Italian GT Championship 2016 in third place in GT3. Postiglione won the Italian title in 2013, came third in the Lamborghini World Finals in 2016 and won the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2012, the Ferrari Challenge – Trofeo Pirelli 2007 and Renault Megane Sport Cup 2000.
The young Kiko Galbiati, class 1998, will also share driving duties on the #32 Lamborghini Huracàn GT3. He will be competing for Imperiale Racing for the first time. Galbiati made his karting debut at 15 years of age and moved to GT cars in 2016. He posted the quickest time in his maiden race in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe and claimed a splendid win in AM in Valencia. Kiko Galbiati has switched from GT cars to Formula 4 but got his best results in closed wheels racing. Two years after his first race he came second in the Pro-Am Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe in 2017 and secured four podiums last in his maiden season in Pro last year.
Jaromir Jirik will complete Imperiale Racing’s lineup. He has been competing on GT cars since 2004 and is the only driver among his teammates to have some experience in the 24H Series European Championship where he came sixth in 2015 following a great win in Brno and the fourth place in the prestigious 24 Hours of Dubai. Class 1954, he has a wide experience in several prestigious categories like ADAC GT Masters, FIA GT3 European Championship, GT Spanish Championship, and FIA GT3 Porsche Manufacturers Cup. He competed in the European FIA GT3 on a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 in 2006.
The 5.245 meters of the Mugello racetrack are going to stage this challenge. The circuit provides the perfect mix of fast straights and driven parts in which rhythm and car balance are going to be crucial. The long start/finish straight leads into the San Donato turn, a spectacular place for overtaking. The mid sector is characterized by the double chicane Materassi-Borgo San Lorenzo and the famous down-hill Casanova-Savelli that opens the third sector featuring the famous Arrabbiate corners. The closing sector includes the wide Bucine that takes drivers back on the main straight.
The program of the weekend will begin on Thursday with two testing sessions at 10:40 and 14:50 (GMT +1). Drivers will have the chance to improve setups on Saturday in the free practice session at 10:05 before challenging each other in qualifying at 12:45. According to the regulations of the 24H Series European Championship, the race will be divided into two stages. The first will start on Saturday at 15:30 and will end three hours later at 18:30. Drivers will get back on track on Sunday morning at 9:00 for the remaining 9 hours of the race and the chequered flag will be waved at 18:00.
The only qualifying session and the whole race (first and second part) will be covered live on the website www.24hseries.com