11.06.2019 – Imperiale Racing ended with a victory and a third place in Pro-Am a very exciting weekend in International GT Open 2019 at Spa-Francorchamps (B).
The Italian team has claimed three titles in the past two years in this prestigious GT series and in occasion of this comeback it fielded the #34 Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 driven by Adrian Amstutz (CH) and Patrick Kujala (FIN) in Pro-Am. This crew was at the debut with Imperiale Racing, but is quite experienced on Lamborghini.
Free practice on Friday provided great feedback to the drivers that secured the second place in the combined time of the two sessions. Kujala has been a great protagonist of Q1 and posted the quickest time in 2:15.770s, but he was relegated to P4 for not slowing down under the yellow flags. The second qualifying session – also stopped by a red flag – saw Amstutz claiming seventh of Pro-Am in 2:19.228s.
Race one has been quite tactical and started behind the safety car. As the circuit dried up the competitive race started, Kujala came to the fore with his combative driving fighting for the lead. After the pit stop Amstutz completed the job managing wisely the car despite the weather changes all the way to the chequered flag that was waved in a neutralization period due to the bad weather. Imperiale Racing secured, therefore, a splendid win in Pro-Am and the fifth place overall.
Race two has been as spectacular and Amstutz, started from the seventh row of the grid, drove carefully and precisely in the tricky initial stages starting a comeback race putting in a very consistent pace. This recovery was then rounded off by Kujala that placed again the #34 Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 on the podium in P3 of Pro-Am.
Luca Del Grosso (Imperiale Racing, Team Manager):
“Coming back to International GT Open in Spa-Francorchamps that is one of the most exciting circuits ever and taking two podiums (with one victory) is a great result that has to be shared with the whole team. Such a result boosts our confidence in this series. The experience built in the past years on these tyres made the difference and helped Adrian and Patrick to quickly find a great feeling with the car. They managed to run two particularly challenging races at best. Our balance is certainly positive”.
