NEWS
PODIUM FOR IACONE AND TEMPESTA IN MISANO SPRINT
Jun 06, 2021
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Italian GT Sprint Championship, Round 2
Reigning Sprint Champions VSR rejoined the Italian series this weekend for the second round of the Championship held at Misano. Simone Iacone and Sascha Tempesta teamed up for the event driving the team’s Am class entered VSR Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo number 29.
Tempesta took the car out for the first qualifying session and set the third fastest time in the Am class. He lined up on row eight for the fifty minute race which took place on Saturday evening and maintained his place when the lights went green. Further round the lap he lost out to Cuhadaroglu’s Ferrari and the pair began a battle that would last until they pitted. On lap six a brief Safety Car period closed up the field and on lap thirteen the pit window opened. Tempesta followed Cuhadaroglu into the pits from fourth in class and they handed over to Iacone and Fumanelli respectively. One lap later Zanotti pitted the second placed Honda and Cabelas took over. Iacone was soon all over the Honda driver and passed him for third in class on lap seventeen. Out in front Schirò pitted just as the window closed and Earle took over the Am lead. He exited the pits with a sixteen second advantage to Iacone who was pushing hard to catch Fumanelli. On lap twenty-one Fumanelli passed Earle and a lap later Iacone followed suit. A three lap safety car period closed the field up once again and when the track went green there were less than five minutes left to race. Iacone was all over Fumanelli until the pair were separated by Segù which allowed the Ferrari driver to escape. For the final two laps Iacone battled with Llarena in the Pro-Am Lamborghini, only losing out to him at the end due to a one second pit-stop penalty. Iacone took the flag in thirteenth overall, second in Am.
The number 29 car started Sunday’s race from the fourth row after Iacone, the fastest Lambo driver in the session, qualified second in Am in an extraordinarily close qualifying which saw the top thirteen cars covered by less than a second. Iacone moved up to sixth at the start before spinning out at turn fourteen and slipping down to thirty-first position. He quickly got back up to speed and by the end of lap three was twenty-third. On lap four he overtook Linossi and La Mazza and was running right behind Earle who held fourth in Am. It took Iacone half a lap to pass the Ferrari driver and he then set his sights on Zanotti’s Honda, a further fifteen seconds up the road. With clear road ahead og him and the threat of a summer storm overhead Iacone began lapping within just a few tenths of the leaders but his charge was put on ice when Filippi collided with Postiglione and Di Amato and the safety car was called out. Racing resumed on lap fourteen, just as the pit window opened. Iacone stayed out until the end of the ten minute period, entering the pits just as rain began to fall around the circuit. The VSR strategy paid off as the team were able to send Tempesta out on wet tyres and straight onto a track under Full Course Yellow. This quickly became a safety car period and racing resumed with just over ten minutes of the race left. Tempesta, getting his first experience of the Lambo GT3 in the wet, gamely kept the car on track and without committing errors bought it home in fourteenth overall, fourth in Am.
The Sprint Championship now takes a long summer break and returns in September with a double header event at Imola. VSR’s Lamborghini GT3 cars will be back in action in a fortnight’s time for round two of the International GT Open Championship at Spa-Francorchamps.
