Lodovico Laurini and Diego Stifter conquered their maiden win in the GT Cup Europe today in Monza, in a lively Race 2 under the sun, perfectly mastered by the Italian pair who gave BiRace Motorsport its first success in the series. The pair was elated after the race: “It’s been a very good race, coming from the second conquered yesterday in Race 1, the team gave us a perfect car.”
Adding to their merits, Laurini and Stifter beat the two top title contenders: Jurriaan De Back and Paul Meijer (HWM Motorsport) finished second and Pietro Delli Guanti and Matteo Luvis (FAEMS by Ebimotors) third. The Dutch standings leaders and the Italian challengers are now separated by 14 points ahead of the decisive final round in Barcelona.
The race started with drama: sitting in pole was the winner of Race 1, the Leipert Mootorsport Lamborghini of Axel Bengtsson, but next to him, Kai Rillaerts (HWM) had a better start, with the Swede finding himself squeezed at first corner, where he was hit by Longoni (Zrs). The race of both cars ended there, with the Italian getting a 3-place grid penalty in the next race.
Rillaerts led for the entire first stint, with Stifter in second and Pisani in third, followed by Svepes, Babini, De Back and Luvisi, who quickly climbed from the last row.
After all the driver changes, Salubre was still leading, six seconds ahead of Laurini and 16 ahead of Martins, with Meijer and Delli Guanti emerging from behind. Eventually, Laurini took the lead in lap 19, with both Meijer and Delli Guanti passing Martins and Salubre.
The Filipino finished fourth but first in Pro-Am ahead of Garcia and Scannicchio. With his third success, he reopens the fight for the class title, being now six points from Barambio-García.
Martins was fifth and conquered his third class win of the year, ahead of de Mello and Pedrera, with Wijs closing fourth after a spin in the first chicane. With the four top pairs covered by five points, the season’s final in Barcelona is going to be hot.
