Harsh weather marks Imperiale Racing’s weekend at Imola

09.09.2024 – It was a weekend marked by bad weather during the third round of the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo Endurance, held this weekend at the Imola circuit.

Imperiale Racing lined up two Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 EVO2 at the start: the #85, in PRO class, was driven by Alessio Deledda (ITA), Kevin Gilardoni (CH) and Ugo de Wilde (BEL), who was making his debut in the Italian championship, while the #54 was driven by Giuseppe Fascicolo (ITA), Alexander Bowen (BLZ) and Dmitry Gvazava (KGZ): they were competing in AM class.

The crew of the #85 Lamborghini started their weekend by setting the eighth fastest time in the first free practice session (1’43‘155), while in the second session Deledda, Gvazava and de Wilde took the lead with a time of 1’41’433. The third and final session confirmed the crew among the weekend’s contenders: the drivers finished second, stopping the clocks at 1’41″396. Qualifying on Saturday began with de Wilde’s session, which set the ninth fastest time (1’41‘668), and continued with that of Deledda (1’41’915). Gilardoni’s time (1’41″103) closed the session, allowing the #85 to start from eighth overall and sixth in class ahead of the race. The race was heavily affected by rain: after lengthy safety cars and an initial red flag, the race was called off after 104 minutes out of the planned 180 due to worsening weather conditions, giving the #85 Lamborghini sixth place in the PRO class.

Fascicolo, Bowen and Gvazava tried to make the most of free practice to get to grips with one of Italy’s most historic and complicated tracks. The first practice session ended with first place in class (1’44‘114), and the second session also confirmed the good things shown by the Mirandola-based team’s crew: it ended with another first place (1’42’944). The last session also brought good news, with a second place finish (1’42″642). Then it was the turn of the qualifying session and the first to take to the track was Bowen: the Belizean driver set the second fastest time in his class (1’42‘063). Fascicolo also kept his place on the podium by setting the session’s third fastest time (1’43’749). Gvazava, the last driver on the track, stopped the clock at 1’42″566, a time that allowed the crew to start the race from fourth in class. Unfortunately, this was much shorter than the team and drivers had hoped: with the rain falling on the track, the #54 Lamborghini suffered an aquaplaning that brought it onto the sand, forcing the crew to retire.

Elena Pignatti (Team Owner):
‘It is difficult to comment on this weekend: both our crews proved the worth of the whole package. Unfortunately, some circumstances prevented us from proving it at the end of the race, even though the free practice and qualifying times prove the great speed demonstrated throughout this weekend. Unfortunately the bad weather was really crucial, forcing the deployment of several safety cars, the red flags being shown twice and the shortening of the race from the planned 180‘ to the actual 104’. We will be in Monza to play it all in the last round of the season!’.

Classification Italian Gran Turismo Endurance PRO Championship | Round 3 of 4
1. Fisichella-Leclerc-Mosca pti. 55
2. Cazzaniga-Di Folco-Liberati pti. 58
3. Comandini-Denes-Guerra pti. 47
4. Aka-Delli Guanti-Mazzola pti. 36
5. Jelmini-Frassinetti pti. 33
12. Deledda-Gilardoni-De Wilde pti. 10

Classification Italian Gran Turismo Endurance AM Championship | Round 3 of 4
1. Colavita-Riccitelli-Ulrich pti. 82
2. Marchetti-Ferri-Bodellini pti. 74
3. Bowen-Fascicolo pti. 52
4. Magnoni-Ciglia-Massaro pti. 43
5. Mur-Lommahadthai-Lertlamprasertkul pti. 38
6. Pavlovic-Splengler-Sanporn pti. 38
7. Gvazava pti. 34

Calendar Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship 2024
14-16 June > Vallelunga
12-14 July > Mugello
6-8 September > Imola
25-27 October > Monza