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28th July 2018 – European Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Spa-Francorchamps
Andrzej Lewandowski and August MacBeth dominated the Spa round of the European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship taking two class poles and winning both races in convincing fashion. Lewandowski now leads the Am Championship by seventeen points.
The fourth round of the Championship saw a forty-six car grid assemble at an unusually hot Spa-Francorchamps. VSR entered four cars; a Pro entry for Ortiz and Tujula, two Pro-Am entries for the pairings of Koller-Liberati and Kasai-Wlazik and one Am entry for Lewandowski and MacBeth. With both sixty-minute practice sessions marred by red flags there was precious little time for Spa novices Ortiz and Tujula to learn the difficult 7km track.
Two fraught qualifying sessions on Friday morning saw Pro-Am and Am poles for race one claimed by Liberati and Lewandowski. Liberati’s best lap put him third overall. Wlazik qualified strongly, taking a spot on the fifth row, whilst row nine was an all VSR affair with Ortiz and Lewandowski lining up alongside each other. When the race got underway a spin from pole-sitter Postiglione at La Source plunged the field into chaos as the drivers fought for track space. Liberati and Wlazik both dropped several places whilst Ortiz made up four spots and Lewandowski two. As the race settled down Ortiz closed on Wlazik in eleventh but then dropped down the order when he was hit by Tweraser who was later penalised. On lap nine the pit window opened and Wlazik came in from sixth in Pro-Am to hand over to Kasai. He was followed quickly by Lewandowski, second in Am, who turned his VSR Lamborghini over to MacBeth. A lap later Tujula took over from Ortiz but the Pro car’s bad luck continued and the Finn’s race was finished before the end of his out lap. Liberati stayed on track until the pit window was about to close and Koller took his place just as the Safety Car neutralised the race. There was a lengthy delay as the correct order was established behind the Safety Car and when the race resumed there was time for just one more lap. At the chequered flag it was MacBeth who led home the VSR cars, finishing an impressive ninth overall and comfortably winning the Am class. Just behind him were the two VSR Pro-Am cars with Koller taking fourth in class and Kasai fifth.
MacBeth was the fastest VSR driver in qualifying for Saturday’s race. The American qualified tenth overall and took the Am pole by over one second in another dominant performance. Tujula qualified just behind him on the sixth row and the two Pro-Am cars of Kasai and Koller took places on rows eleven and twelve respectively. A short sharp shower just as the grid was forming meant the race ran behind the Safety Car for the first two laps. The VSR cars had all remained on slick tyres and although they lost out initially to the runners on wets they were back on the pace as the track dried and the pit window opened. First to stop was Koller who pitted on lap eight and gave his Lamborghini to Liberati. A lap later Wlazik took over from Kasai and just before the pit window closed Tujula and MacBeth pitted from their top ten spots. Their cars were taken over by Ortiz and Lewandowski who would get only a handful of laps to make an impression. With ten minutes left to run the race was red-flagged after an accident amongst the leaders and not re-started. Lewandowski was declared the Am class winner, Tujula finished sixth in Pro and Wlazik and Liberati sixth and seventh in Pro-Am.
The Championship now takes a summer break before the teams reconvene in September at the Nurburgring for the penultimate round of the Championship.
ENDS
