09/04/2019 – The opening round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance Series lived an eventful and exciting race at the Monza ENI Circuit.
At the end of the three qualifying sessions on the dry on Saturday, the PRO lineup on the #63 car made by Vito Postiglione (ITA), Jeroen Mul (NL) and Alex Frassineti (ITA) closed with the third quickest combined time (5’22”789s), which was the fastest of the Lamborghinis, behind Comandini/Johansson/Krohn (BMW, 5’21”619s) and Fisichella/Gai/Villeneuve (Ferrari, 5’22”454s).
Pietro Perolini (ITA), Ben Gersekowski (AUS) and James Pull (GB) posted a positive third time in PRO-Am on the #19 car, which was the sixth overall with a combined time of 5’25”010s.
Changing weather conditions on Sunday have characterized the three hours long race. The rain started to fall a few minutes to the start, which was given behind the safety car. Rain stopped and started again and this mutable conditions forced teams to stop several times to switch tyres. Frassineti put in a virtually perfect first stint using all his experience, while Postiglione was among the first to fit slick tyres in the second stint and the quickest on track for several laps. Imperiale Racing’s lineup has fought for the podium until lap 38 when a problem to the rear left tyre cost the car some precious time. Mul finally put in a very fast closing stint but the gap accumulated impacted on the final result, a sixth-place full of regret for what could have been by the look of the competitive pace shown by the three drivers.
Perolini, Gersekowski and Pull had a very strong day instead and put in a stunning performance that earned them the victory in Pro-Am and the third overall place at the end of a tricky and error-prone race. Pull has been really effective in the first stint on the wet and pitted in the best moment to change tyres. Perolini also gave a fundamental contribution as he was fast and did not make errors on slick tyres on intermediate track conditions. The final stint put in by Gersekowski has also been very exciting as he passed Palma (Mercedes) first for the PRO-Am lead and then repeatedly attacked Cioci (Ferrari) for overall P2. The Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo #19 has been leading the race for some laps in several occasions, which confirmed it has all it takes to fight for the top.
Luca Del Grosso (Imperiale Racing, Team Manager):
“The race has been amazing and very challenging for drivers as well as for all the staff in the pits and on the pit wall. Perolini, Gersekowski and Pull put in a bold performance and we are proud for taking the win in Pro-Am in the opener despite a puncture. What a shame for Postiglione, Mul and Frassineti: the podium was within their reach, but these points will certainly be handy at the end of the season”.
The Italian GT Championship will get on track next May 5th in Vallelunga for the opener of the Sprint Series.
