NEWS
EUROPEAN LAMBORGHINI SUPER TROFEO - NURBURGRING RACE REPORT:
RANDAZZO AND TRIBAUDINI DOMINATE IN GERMANY
Jul 28, 2024
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European Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Round 4 – Nurburgring, Germany
Randazzo and Tribaudini dominate in Germany
VSR fielded three Lamborghini Super Trofeo Huracans for the fourth round of the European Championship, which took place at the Nurburgring this weekend. Monegasque Micah Stanley joined Le Mans winner Mattia Michelotto in the number 6 Pro car whilst the drivers were unchanged for the 16 Pro-Am entry (Frassineti and Zanon) and the 66 Am car (Randazzo and Tribaudini).
Rain greeted the teams for Friday’s first practice session but it was dry for the afternoon. Qualifying was mostly wet as well and the sessions were reduced to ten minutes so the classes could be split. For Saturday’s race Michelotto lined up in seventh place, after being blocked on his hot-lap, and Frassineti took the start from thirteenth, the second fastest Pro-Am car. Randazzo did a mega job in his session to claim the Am class pole and a place on row eight.
The track was properly wet for the race, which was run behind the Safety Car for the first three laps. When the cars were released Michelotto rocketed up to fourth and after two racing laps Frassineti was running eleventh, catching the Pro-Am class leader Lucchetti, as Randazzo held second in Am. He was the first VSR Lambo to stop when the pit window opened on lap eight, handing the 66 over to Tribaudini. At the end of the window Michelotto stopped for Stanley and Frassineti, who had swapped places several times in a fierce battle with Lucchetti, stopped for Zanon. Stanley had an intense fight for most of his stint with Orudzhev, Eriksson and Riegel before, on the final lap, Riegel hit the VSR car. The German was penalised but the time Stanley lost meant he took the flag in ninth place. Zanon hung on to third in Pro-Am until the very last corner when Schandorff forced his way past and Tribaudini took a fine win in Am, finishing twelfth overall out of the forty-eight cars entered.
Sunday’s race saw Tribaudini start from the front row after taking advantage of the improving conditions in the final qualifying session and claiming the Am pole by 1.5 seconds. Drama for the 6 and 16 cars saw them both damaged in incidents in the second qualifying session. Stanley limped around and managed to set a time good enough for row fifteen but the damage to Zanon’s car forced him to pit and he started the race from last. At the start Tribaudini got the jump on pole-sitter Schandorff and was never headed, pulling out a three second gap to the chasing Pro drivers before the pit window opened. An unlucky weekend for the 16 car finished early on when Zanon was hit and forced to retire on lap two. Stanley suffered contact in the opening laps as well and slipped down the order. He was the first of the VSR cars to pit, handing over to Michelotto. A great stint from the Italian saw him haul the 6 car back up into the points, taking the flag in ninth place. Randazzo took over the race lead when Tribaudini pitted and held off the Pro cars headed by Orudzhev for several laps. The Artline driver passed him on lap sixteen and was quickly followed by Bonduel but after that Randazzo held station and took the Am win and an incredible third overall. The dominant performance of Randazzo and Tribaudini leaves them leading the Am Championship by twenty-seven and a half points.
The European Lamborghini Super Trofeo Championship now takes a break until October when the teams reconvene at Barcelona for round five.
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