09.10.2019 – The closing meeting of the Italian GT Endurance Championship 2019 in Mugello ended with the third place in the final classification and the second in Pro-Am for Imperiale Racing. The Mirandola-based team has unquestionably been among the protagonists of the closing round of the championship and hunted the championship win until the final lap.
The Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo #63 driven by Vito Postiglione (ITA), Jeroen Mul (NL) and Alex Frassineti (ITA) in PRO and the #19 car driven by Pietro Perolini (ITA), Ben Gersekowski (AUS) and Emanuele Zonzini (ITA) in Pro-Am had only one target as the drivers and team put all their grit on track to achieve the highest result.
Imperiale Racing’s lineups kept a very high rhythm since free practice both on the humid and dry track and the good feeling with the car was confirmed in qualifying. In Q1, Mul posted the second quickest time in the #63 car, a result that was repeated by Frassineti in Q2. In the hard-fought Q3, Postiglione’s fourth place was enough to secure the pole position thanks to the combined time of 5’21.705s. Perolini ran Q1 in the #19 car ending tenth, sixth of Pro-Am. Gersekowski has been exceptional in Q2 and kept the lead for a good part of the session eventually ending fifth overall and second of Pro-Am. Zonzini completed the performance and qualified the lineup in the fifth place of Pro-Am and ninth overall in 5’25.673s.
The race has been a monologue of the #63 car. Mul kept the lead early on and built a good margin posting also what was the fastest lap of the race for a long time. During the second hour, Frassineti kept the lead of the race and pitted with the car firmly in the lead. In the closing stages, Postiglione tried to extend the lead to more than 5s to void the penalty handed by Stewards following a little infraction at the restart after the safety car. Postiglione crossed the finish line 2.7s clear of the second, which relegated Imperiale Racing to the second place in the race and the third in the championship, just 2 points shy of the winners.
The race of the #19 car has been intense too. A great comeback was started by Gersekowski in the first stint and was finalized by the strong performance of Perolini in the second hour and Zonzini in the closing stages. Imperiale Racing’s lineup crossed the finish line in fifth place, that was the third of Pro-Am, which allowed Perolini and Gersekowski to end the Pro-Am championship in P2.
Luca Del Grosso (Imperiale Racing, Team Manager):
“In a team, we win and lose together. We tried hard with the #63 car until the finish line and we ended a few tenths away from the victory. This is hard to accept: Jeroen, Alex and Vito gave their best. In motorsport, the devil is in the detail and this time we lacked a little to get the result in PRO. We were gifted with the retirement of our main rivals, but calculations are done at the end.
Our compliments to the winners.
I would also like to highlight the great race of the #19 car in Pro-Am. The growth of Pietro, Ben and Emanuele is adamant. They managed such a challenging round with great maturity and secured a podium that rewarded them with the second place in the championship for Pietro and Ben and the fifth for Emanuele.
We are united, the spirit of competitiveness and desire to win drive us. We will convert these feelings into performance on track again soon”.
Italian GT Championship Endurance | Final classification
1. Gai (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo) pt. 42; 2. Comandini-Johansson (BMW M6 GT3) pt. 41; 3. Mul-Postiglione-Frassineti (Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo) pt. 40; 4. Linossi-Colombo (Mercedes AMG GT3) pt. 26; 5. Cioci-Veglia (Ferrari 488 GT3) pt. 24
Italian GT Championship Endurance | Pro-Am Final classification
1. Linossi-Colombo (Mercedes AMG GT3) pt. 50; 2. Perolini-Gersekowski (Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo) pt. 44; 3. Ling pt. 40 (Mercedes AMG GT3); 4. Di Amato-Vezzoni (Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo) pt. 33; 5. Zonzini (Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo) pt. 31