Lamborghini Super Trofeo: Asian, European and North American titles wrapped up at Monza

DL Racing’s Kevin Gilardoni and Simone Iaquinta won the European Pro title, with Mičánek Motorsport winning both the Pro-Am title with Bronislav Formánek and Anthony Pretorius and Am with Renaud Kuppens and Jakub Knoll. In Lamborghini Cup, Nina Østergaard and Peder Demant Møller (DC Motorsport) were crowned champions.
 

Elias de la Torre (TR3 Racing) clinched the North American Pro championship, while Philippe Touchette (TB Autosports) came out on top in a thrilling LB Cup battle with Rocky T Bolduc (Topp Racing). In Asia, Batmobile Racing’s Will Tregurtha won an equally tight Pro title race, beating VSR’s Gustaw Wisniewski and Liam Sceats.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe
 

Race 1
 

Pretorius took pole position for the opening race of the week but lost ground off the rolling start, dropping to third behind Brendon Leitch (Leipert Motorsport) and Gilardoni. The latter then took the lead but was penalised five seconds post-race after gaining an advantage. Behind, there was drama as Jerzy Spinkiewicz (Uniq Racing) made contact with the title contending Silas Lovén Rytter and the Pro-Am entry of Milos Pavlović. All three were out on the spot, with Rytter and Patrik Fraboni’s championship hopes taking a significant dent. Throughout the first stint, Gilardoni and Leitch were evenly matched. Leitch pitted a lap later than Gilardoni in an attempt to overcut, but the positions remained unchanged when Nicolas Stati and Iaquinta took over respectively. Stati closed the gap to Iaquinta in the closing stages, with both lapping within one-hundredth of a second of each other. The #72 then received a one-second penalty for a short pit-stop before sliding off the track at the second Lesmo, handing the lead to Stati. Iaquinta fought back on the final lap and nearly regained the lead as Stati got baulked by a lapped car. The pair went side by side over the line, with just 0.062s splitting the two cars at the flag. Meanwhile, the first champion of the season was confirmed in the Pro-Am class as Pretorius and Formánek were crowned with another victory, finishing fourth overall. In Am, Andrzej Lewandowski marked his second start of the season with victory for ASR, ahead of CMR’s Rodrigue Gillion and Stéphane Lémeret. DC Motorsport’s Nina Østergaard and Peder Demant Møller took the victory in Lamborghini Cup, beating main title rival Claude-Yves Gosselin (Rexal Villorba Corse).

Race 2
 

Rain before the start of the second race caught out Fraboni on his way to the grid, with the #36 Oregon Team Huracán hitting the wall at the Ascari chicane, heavily damaging the car. The resulting non-start meant Gilardoni and Iaquinta were crowned Pro champions before the race began, following four laps behind the safety car. When the race got going properly, it was polesitter Marzio Moretti (ASR) who led the way from Stati and Rexal Villorba Corse’s Nicholas Pujatti. Sixth overall and fifth in Pro was Henri Tuomaala (Leipert Motorsport), who was the first of the leading group to make his pit-stop – and switch onto wet tyres as the rain intensified – when the window opened. Swapping with Matias Salonen for the second stint, the #88 emerged in the lead after the window closed, with Leitch holding second after taking over from Stati. Leitch was unable to match the pace of Salonen, who stormed away to his and Tuomaala’s second win of the season and secure third in the Pro standings. Completing the podium was Hugo Giraud and Nathanael Berreby, their first of the year. Kuppens and Knoll clinched the Am title courtesy of second place as Lewandowski doubled up for ASR. Lémeret and Gillion recovered from a first-lap spin at the final corner to finish third. While Gosselin won the Lamborghini Cup race, Østergaard and Demant Møller picked up the title with second place, capping off a superb maiden season in the championship in which Østergaard became only the second female driver – and first since Carina Lima in 2015 – to win a class championship in Super Trofeo Europe. Moretti and Biglieri won the Pro-Am race from Paul Levet and Miguel Cristóvão, while Jonathan Cecotto and Sergei Astafjev claimed their first podium in third.

Simone Iaquinta (#72 DL Racing), Super Trofeo Europe Pro champion: “I’m really happy because winning the championship was the goal I had set myself before the start of the season. Achieving it is an incredible feeling. I want to thank the whole team, who have done an amazing job and put their heart and soul into it. Kevin has also been fantastic. Now our focus turns to the World Finals, where we’ll try to do well too. It was my first year, and I was really determined to achieve a good result straight away. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Speed is obviously important, but you also need to be smart to win a championship. Our goal was to finish on the podium in every race, and we managed to do that almost every time, apart from our retirement at Spa and today’s final race.”

Kevin Gilardoni (#72 DL Racing), Super Trofeo Europe Pro champion: “We’ve worked all year to achieve this result, showing that we’ve been strong throughout, even stronger than the bad luck we’ve had. We never lost heart and always stuck together as a team. At the start of the year, when I received the offer to race alongside Simone, whom I’d known for a long time, I was really excited. We’d raced against each other in the junior categories, but we’d never shared a car. I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate. I didn’t know DL Racing either, so joining them was a leap of faith, but it’s a choice I’d make a thousand times over. Of all the teams I’ve raced for, they’ve brought out the best in me as a driver. We’ve given them their first Super Trofeo title, rounding off this season and bringing the Huracán era to a close, with the Temerario arriving next year.”

Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America
 

Race 1
 

TR3 Racing’s Dennis Lind claimed pole for the penultimate race of the season and duly maintained his lead off the rolling start from Wayne Taylor Racing’s Hampus Ericsson, who managed to get ahead of team-mate Danny Formal as the field negotiated turn one. Near the back, Touchette held onto the Lamborghini Cup lead and the upper hand in the ferocious LB Cup title squabble with compatriot Bolduc. The latter encountered a brake fluid issue on the pre-grid and lost multiple laps, eventually finishing fourth in class and losing the championship lead heading into the final race. With clear air, Lind used his experience and pace to stretch his legs at the head of the field, opening up a margin of over 10s before the pit window opened. Both he and Ericsson stayed out until late in the window before handing over to Elias de la Torre and Nick Persing respectively. Following the stops, De la Torre kept his lead and extended it over the course of the second stint, winning both the race and the Pro championship. Ericsson and Persing finished second with WTR’s James Wallis and Al Morey IV taking their best finish of the season with the final step on the podium ahead of Bamber in fourth. Formal and Doyle continued their domination of the Pro-Am campaign with yet another victory, taking a strong fifth place overall and only just staving off the Forty7 Motorsports’ Huracán of Lindsay Brewer and Keawn Tandon who finished a mere half a second adrift at the flag. TR3 Racing duo Martin Fuentes and Mateo Siderman were third. In Am, the already crowned champion David Staab took the win and led a Precision Performance Motorsports’ lock-out of the podium places. Gabriel Holguin finished second with Cooper Broll third.

Race 2

Just like Lind managed at the start of race one, Bamber made quick his escape from pole position at the start of the second race and was never truly threatened throughout. The #133 was the class of the field and made its break at the front thanks to a thrilling race-long battle for second place between the #101 of Persing/Ericsson, the #127 SP Motorsports’ entry of Jaden Conwright and Joaquim Morillo and the #129 of Lind and De la Torre. Persing led the train of three cars early on with De la Torre in tow. Conwright then passed De la Torre at the second chicane and then moved ahead of Persing at the entry to the second Lesmo. The order remained stable throughout the pit window. With new drivers at the wheel, the action did not relent, and Ericsson fended off Lind’s overtake attempt at Lesmo 1 by driving around the outside of Morillo at Lesmo 2. Lind then followed Ericsson past Morillo to move up to third. In the closing laps, Lind and Ericsson fought tooth and nail for second place, with Lind initially getting by at the exit of turn one. Ericsson, undeterred, fought back immediately and, after selling a dummy to the inside of Ascari, reclaimed second place as Lind went slightly too deep. Ericsson and Persing therefore finished second in the race, but Bamber secured the runner-up spot in the Pro standings with victory. A perfect drive and a maximum score for Touchette was enough for the Canadian to secure the LB Cup title, as Bolduc saw his chances disappear due to a driveshaft problem after his first stop. Fred Roberts (Leipert Motorsport) finished second with Ray Shahi (Taurino Racing) completing the podium. Staab concluded his title-winning season with another victory in Am, while Brewer and Tandon secured second in the Pro-Am standings behind the race-winning Formal and Doyle pairing.

Elias de la Torre (#129 TR3 Racing), Super Trofeo North America Pro champion: “The whole TR3 Racing team has done an amazing job all season, racing with three different drivers throughout the year and all three being just unbelievable. Dennis led the way this weekend and he has been so helpful this year, getting more speed out of me. It feels really good to win the title this year, because we missed out due to a bit of bad luck last year but we managed to build on that momentum heading into the first round at Sebring which put us in a really good spot to fight for the championship. This weekend was all about hitting the ground running, we had a great car in testing straight out of the box; Lamborghini always builds great cars, and the team and Dennis have done a great job the whole weekend, so I really have them to thank for this title.”

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia

Race 1

VSR locked out the front row in qualifying, with Gustaw Wiśniewski taking pole position ahead of the sister car of Todd Kingsford. Off the start, it was Wiśniewski who held onto the lead of the race as Kingsford slipped to fourth place behind Will Tregurtha (Batmobile Racing) and the Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph entry of Titus Sherlock. Lamborghini Cup champion Supachai Weeraborwornpong ran an excellent sixth overall in his Siamgas Corse Huracán, one place ahead of the Am leader Tommy Kiu. Out front, Wiśniewski extended his advantage over Tregurtha to over nine seconds before the pit window opened; the Polish was among the last to make his stop, with Liam Sceats taking over for the second stint. Tregurtha began to close the gap to Sceats during the second half of the race but the New Zealander’s consistent pace in the remaining laps was enough to take a third win of the season. Lamborghini Busan by Racegraph’s Barrett Wolfe and André Couto finished third. Kingsford and Van der Drift continued their unbeaten run with victory in the Pro-Am class, beating the Batmobile Racing crew of Kumar Prabakaran and Adam Putera. In Am, the battle was fierce as Suttiluck Buncharoen took the win again for True Vision Motorsports Thailand, in seventh overall. One place ahead was Weeraborwornpong who won the LB Cup class.

Race 2

A further rain shower hit the Monza track shortly before the final race of the year on Friday. Van der Drift started on pole and made the most of the clear visibility in front of him to lead into turn one. Sceats also had a good start but almost collected Van der Drift under braking for the first corner, the subsequent missed apex allowing Cecotto to jump ahead into the lead of Pro and second overall. Despite opening up a healthy gap early on over Cecotto, the latter began to make inroads into the leader and, by the time the pit window opened, the pair were nose to tail once more. Cecotto tried to find a way past but opted to pit a lap before Van der Drift to swap with Tregurtha. Having made its pit-stop earlier, the #206 VSR machine of Wiśniewski – having taken over from Sceats – was back in the mix, as were the pair of Racegraph cars of Wolfe – in place of Couto – and Sherlock – swapping with Li. As track conditions continued to prove tricky, Wiśniewski began to struggle for grip under braking, skipping the first and second chicanes and dropping behind Couto and then Sherlock. All four cars caught Kingsford, who maintained the lead. Couto then lost control of his car on the exit of Ascari, which allowed Wiśniewski back ahead, with Sherlock also moving up to second ahead of Tregurtha. The following lap, Sherlock passed Kingsford to take the lead with 12 minutes to go. A spin for Kingsford following contact at the exit of Lesmo 2 meant Tregurtha remained ahead of Wiśniewski and on course for the title. Tregurtha’s team-mate Kumar Prabakaran (Batmobile Racing) also spun at Lesmo 2, bringing out a full course yellow. As Sherlock and Li took the win, Tregurtha held on to clinch the Pro title in second, with Sceats and Wiśniewski third. Kingsford and Van der Drift recovered to win Pro-Am as Buncharoen and Supachai – in a fabulous fourth overall – picked up the Am and LB Cup honours.

Will Tregurtha (#203 Batmobile Racing), Super Trofeo Asia Pro champion: “It feels incredible to win the championship, especially as I had very little seat time at the start of the year, no testing before the first round at Sepang, so it is very satisfying. It’s been an amazing experience racing in Asia this year and with Jonathan who has helped me a lot in my driving all season. My job is in sim racing and, because I had no experience of this car before, I built the sim model around the car and prepared for each round as best as possible, and it seemed to work really well. My team has been fantastic this year, my engineer Tim has been brilliant in setting up the car. In race two it was very tough in the rain, and we also had some contact which meant the steering was really bad. But we stayed ahead and got the job done in the end.”

Attention now focuses on the 13th edition of the Lamborghini World Finals, beginning from Saturday morning. Warm-up begins at 09:00 before the split Am/Lamborghini Cup and Pro/Pro-Am qualifying sessions before lunch. The first Am/LB Cup will take place at 15:05 with the opening Pro/Pro-Am race scheduled for 16:50. On Sunday, the World Finals will be decided with two more races, with Am/LB Cup scheduled for 11:05 and Pro/Pro-Am at 13:20 CET.

All four races will be livestreamed on the official Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel.