Getting to Know: Edoardo Liberati

There are few drivers who know all there is to know about the Lamborghini Huracán. Whether that is a Super Trofeo or GT3 version, Edoardo Liberati has amassed an incredible wealth of experience over the years.

A dependable pair of hands either in one-make or multi-brand competition, the 31-year-old Roman has climbed the GT ladder with Lamborghini Squadra Corse and is about to embark on another Fanatec GT Asia campaign in familiar surroundings.

Following a five-year hiatus from the series, the Vincenzo Sospiri-led VS Racing is back in the far East with a two-car effort. For Liberati, it marks the continuation of a long-established partnership with Sospiri.

"I started racing with them in 2017,” begins Liberati.

“Vincenzo Sospiri, thanks to the support he gave me, was fundamental to my career. The VSR team has grown a lot and today it is certainly one of the reference teams for Lamborghini.

"I raced and won in Europe and North America, [so] now the goal is Asia again. The Huracán GT3 EVO2, which also has a year on tracks around the world, can certainly be said to be very competitive. We will be able to aim for success straight away."

"They are all very beautiful tracks, certified for Formula 1. Some circuits are old style, like Suzuka which in my opinion represents the highlight of the calendar. Even in this respect the level is very high."

Ask anyone in GT paddocks around the world and you’ll soon get an idea of just how well respected Liberati is among teams. Having represented Nissan in Asia and Porsche and BMW in Europe, adaptability sits front and centre on Liberati’s CV.

In contrast to a lot of drivers of his generation, Liberati’s single seater career was short-lived. Three seasons of Italian Formula 3 provided enough of a base to pursue the GT path in 2012. It was from this point that Liberati’s career began to soar.

The Lamborghini story began in 2015, as Liberati contested both the European and Asian Super Trofeo championships. Appropriately, his first major international success came in Asia, winning the Pro-Am title before a breakthrough maiden GT3 crown in GT Asia the following year.

"Lamborghini Super Trofeo represented a real turning point for me,” explains Liberati. “My debut also took place in 2015 in the European series. From there the opportunity arose to also take part in the Asian championship.

“It was Yuan Bo who called me, to ask me to race in the team and together we won the Pro-Am title that year."

"I had to learn all the tracks, but I also gained a lot of experience, and this led Lamborghini to make me debut in GT Asia in 2016.

“Today I know the world of Asian motorsport well, which over the years has become increasingly closer to the European one. Pro drivers are almost all European. There is great interest from manufacturers and there are also many factory drivers."

There is little doubt that the GT Asia title in 2016 was the veritable launchpad for Liberati’s career; he even admits as much.

Asked which seasons had given him the most satisfaction, Liberati said: “[There is] not one, but three. That is, the three titles I won with Lamborghini, including that of the Italian GT Championship in 2022.

“Unfortunately, [in 2023] we finished the Italian Sprint championship first, but on equal points with Klingmann-Spengler's BMW, who the title went [to]. If I had to give more importance to one success or another, I would still put the one achieved in GT Asia first, because it was the first of my adventure in GT3 with Lamborghini and consolidated my career."

Ahead of the 2024 season, Liberati is aiming high for VS Racing’s return to competition in Asia, while also targeting at least a partial campaign in the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo.

His Chinese team-mate Ye Bian also comes off the back of a GT Asia title-winning campaign in the Am class and forms an exciting partnership with Liberati, who has extensive experience in Pro-Am line-ups.

VS Racing is not unfamiliar with Asian championships, having featured regularly in GTWC Asia and Blancpain GT Asia before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020.

The Forlí-based team won the Am championship title in 2017 and finished third in the Pro-Am class in 2019. In the intervening years, VS Racing has proved a frontrunner in various international series and picked up the International GT Open title in 2021 with Frederik Schandorff and Michele Beretta.

“I’m very proud to be returning to Asia with the support of Lamborghini Squadra Corse and I am thrilled to welcome Bian to the VSR family,” team principal of VSR, Vincenzo Sospiri said.

“I am sure he and Edoardo will make a competitive pairing.”

The six-round 2024 GT Asia season kicks off at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia on the weekend of April 19-21. After that, a trip to Thailand (Chang International Circuit) is planned for May, before a trio of races in Japan (Fuji, Suzuka and Okayama) precedes the final round of the year in Shanghai, China.