09.12.2020 – Imperiale Racing has been the protagonist of the grand finale in Vallelunga taking a splendid win in race two at the closing round of the Italian GT Spring Championship that ended the 2020 campaign of the Italian team in a great way.
Imperiale Racing fielded the #32 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo for Giovanni Venturini (ITA) and Alex Frassineti (ITA) at the circuit named after Piero Taruffi. The two strong drivers, Venturini and Frassineti, managed to get the most of a tricky weekend, that was characterized by the rain on Sunday and very difficult conditions.
Alex Frassineti got on track for Q1 and posted his best time in 1’35.171s, that was the seventh overall. The very high level of the series – with several drivers within the same second – has been confirmed also in Q2, when Venturini ended tenth with his fastest time of 1’35.106s.
Race one has been quite challenging as the race was neutralized by the safety car twice: at halfway through and in the second part of the race. Frassineti started the race and completed a great stint, while Venturini also put in a very solid pace in the second part of the race. The pairing recovered one place ending ninth at the flag.
Race two has been very exciting and quite unpredictable on Sunday. The race has been postponed by nearly one hour due to the bad weather and took place on a wet circuit in full wet conditions. The race started behind the safety car and, at the restart, Venturini started to climb up. The Italian driver recovered several places in his stint and the team then called the car back into the pits with great timing during the second safety car period. This allowed Frassineti to stay on track in a good moment, which allowed him to climb all the way up to the lead thanks to a perfect race pace. Imperiale Racing eventually claimed a splendid win at the chequered flag.
This result allowed Venturini to end the season at 58 points, that was not far from the podium in a very short classification. The victory of the closing round of the series, that saw a lot of internationally-recognized pairings partake in the event, confirmed the great level of the car managed by the Mirandola-based team also in tricky conditions and highlighted the great job completed by Imperiale Racing that allowed all drivers competing in the #32 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo – Vito Postiglione, Giovanni Venturini, Kikko Galbiati, Alex Frassineti and Giacomo Altoè – to obtain good results in all conditions.
Luca Del Grosso (Imperiale Racing – Team Manager):
“I am very happy with the way we ended the season. We definitely had a good setup for wet conditions, but the drivers managed to get the most out of the car in a race that was objectively hard. Recovering from P10 up to the top in a race that last only 20 laps – the initial were in fact run behind the safety car – has been a stunning performance. We worked well over the season and showed our grit on the track and in the pits.
We are already working to next season: the goal is to compete in the highest GT series, which would be a very important step in our sporting program that we recently redesigned with an important focus on the short and medium terms”.
Italian Gran Turismo Sprint 2020 Championship | Drivers’ classification
1. Nemoto-Tujula pt. 76; 3. Agostini pt. 72; 3. Kroes-Pulcini pt. 70; 4. Roda-Rovera pt. 62; 5. Ferrari pt. 61; 6. Comandini-Zug pt. 60; 7. Venturini pt. 58; 8. Drudi pt. 47; 9. Spinelli pt 41; 10. Galbiati pt. 37