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18th May, 2018 – European Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Silverstone
Lewandowski shot to the top of the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Am standings after he and team-mate MacBeth dominated the category at Silverstone this weekend with two class pole positions and two class victories. Both Kasai-Wlazik and Koller-Liberati claimed Pro-Am podiums and Liberati took the overall pole for race two.
A packed field of forty-seven cars rolled out at Silverstone this week for round two of the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship. VSR were without their Pro entry for the weekend after a practice crash forced Ortiz and Tujula to sit out the British event whilst MacBeth made his Lamborghini debut sharing the Am entry with Lewandowski. Uncharacteristically clement weather throughout the weekend eliminated one variable for the drivers and it was traffic and incidents which caused the biggest frustrations in qualifying. The first session, interrupted at the halfway point by a lengthy red flag, saw Wlazik set the fastest time of the VSR drivers. The German parked his Huracan on row five and was fourth fastest in the highly competitive Pro-Am class. Two rows further back was Lewandowski, taking another Am class pole whilst Koller lined up the second VSR Pro-Am entry on row twelve. Wlazik and Lewandowski maintained their positions during the opening laps of race one and Koller made up five spots to break into the top twenty. His climb through the field was cut short after a coming together with Breukers pushed him down to thirty-eighth place. On lap five Lauck slipped past Lewandowski to take the Am class lead and the pair continued to run nose to tail until the pit window opened. They both pitted on lap twelve but it was the VSR car with MacBeth at the wheel that got out ahead. A lap later Wlazik handed his car to Kasai and the Japanese driver drove an aggressive stint to finish eighth overall and third in Pro-Am, just half a second behind Bontempelli. MacBeth built up a convincing lead in the Am class but as the race reached the closing stages his car developed a gearbox fault. Despite being stuck in fourth gear the American nursed his Lamborghini home and hung onto the class win, claiming victory by just one and a half seconds. Liberati took over from Koller on lap ten and was one of the fastest drivers on track as he worked his way back up to eleventh in class, setting fastest lap of the race on his very last tour.
Qualifying for Sunday’s race saw Liberati take a fine pole position, his best lap over half a second clear of the rest of the field. MacBeth made an excellent Super Trofeo debut, claiming the Am class pole with a time good enough for the seventh row of the grid. Kasai qualified one row further back and was sixth fastest in Pro-Am. At the start Liberati was swamped by the cars behind him before the lights even went green, a situation later rectified by a drive through penalty for Lind. As Liberati pushed hard at the front of the field, MacBeth was building a healthy lead in Am and running comfortably just outside the top ten with Kasai behind him. On lap nine an aggressive challenge on Kasai from Venditti caused the VSR driver to spin and fall back down to twenty-sixth place with some damage to his Lamborghini. As soon as the pit window opened he came in to give the crippled car to Wlazik who could do nothing more than limp to the flag. Two laps later MacBeth handed the leading Am to Lewandowski and at the end of the pit window Liberati pitted from the overall lead and Koller took his place. Released into the middle of the battling Pro cars Koller held his nerve and stayed at the front of the Pro-Am class until five minutes until the end of the race when last year’s Champion Spinelli overtook him. At the flag Koller was eighth overall and took a fine second place in Pro-Am. Lewandowski cruised to the team’s second Am win of the weekend finishing fourteenth overall, nineteen seconds clear of the next best Am.
After their Silverstone points haul Lewandowski now leads the Am standings by nine points and MacBeth is fourth despite sitting out the first round at Monza. In the Pro-Am battle Kasai and Wlazik are lying in second place and Koller and Liberati have moved up to fourth.
The Super Trofeo championship will return to Italy for round three which will see the Misano circuit host a night race for the Lamborghini racers.
ENDS
