19.05.2021 – Imperiale Racing’s campaign in the Italian GT Endurance Championship 2021 is going to start this coming weekend from an historic circuit: the Autodrome of Pergusa in Enna, Sicily.

The Mirandola-based team has been the protagonist of the past two editions of the Endurance championship fighting for the victory and will be at the start of the 2021 season with a very strong PRO lineup featuring Andrea Amici (ITA), Alberto Di Folco (ITA) and Stuart Middleton (GB) in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo. The trio will compete with the #63, the number that traditionally has been used by Lamborghini Squadra Corse.

Imperiale Racing does not have much data on the circuit of Pergusa, as the Italian GT has been absent from this circuit for many seasons and the team will be at its debut at the venue. For this reason, the drivers have completed some testing sessions at the simulator, thanks to the support of Avehil, to improve their knowledge of the track and to get a feeling of a baseline for the setup.

Built around the Lake Pergusa, in a beautiful context, the circuit measures 4.950 meters, which makes it the second shortest race in the Endurance 2021 calendar, after Vallelunga. The circuit is quite narrow, is mostly flat and has a fast flow. The rhythm is broken by a couple of chicanes. The balance of the car will be crucial because the circuit has a majority of right-handers that might unbalance tyre wear.

The program, on the contrary to the usual, will be focused on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, three free practice sessions will take place at local 9:00, 11:40 and 13:35. Qualifying will then get green lights at 18:00 with the usual format of the CIGT Endurance: three sessions, one for each driver of the lineup. The final classification will be defined by the sum of the best three times, one from each driver. The three hours long race will begin on Sunday at 11:00.

The media coverage of the event will be quite important as the race will be run behind closed doors. RAI Sport (CH 58 FreeView) and ACI Sport TV (CH 228 SKY) will provide visibility to the weekend and the race will be live on the official network of the Federation and recorded on RAI Sport on Sunday at 22:45. The ACI Sport Magazine will be showing specials on the event on all the main TV networks and several local channels covering the whole Italian territory, as indicated by the media programmation available at www.acisport.it/CIGT. The official webpage of the series and the Facebook pages @cigranturismo and @acisporttv will show the integral streaming of the first Endurance race of the year that will also be on the Facebook page of the team @imperialeracing.

Luca Del Grosso (Team Manager):
“We want to start the championship with the right foot in Pergusa. We are aware of our potential and resolute to shine after the positive sessions at the Avehil simulator. There are a lot of unknown factors from a technical standpoint, and they are all very important. We have never been racing on this circuit, but we will not be the only ones, and as all our rivals, we have not been contesting Endurance races since last November. We will need to put in a great team effort in the three free practice sessions to focus the work of drivers, engineers and mechanics to set up the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo at best, but I am sure the team will put soul and heart into this first challenge. I am proud of starting this campaign in the Endurance championship with Andrea, Alberto and Stuart: we are aiming high”.

CIGT Endurance | Race Calendar
21-23 May | Pergusa
2-4 July | Mugello
17-19 September | Vallelunga
29-31 October | Monza