IMOLA, Italy, Nov. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As the late
season, final rounds 11 and 12 for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo
North America competitors kicked off this week in Imola,
Italy, they were welcomed to the
beautiful Italian countryside by unusually cold temperatures and of
all things, snow.
Needless to say, the snowfall and inclement weather put a damper
on the week's proceedings and most of the test sessions were
ultimately canceled, putting competitors on the defensive as they
approached the practice and qualifying sessions with little to no
test time Thursday.
But as Friday dawned to showcase two 50-minute feature races
merely hours apart for the 14 participating entries, the sun came
out and forecast tremendous competition to end what has been a
thrilling season thus far with clean racing and extremely tight
championship battles.
With the LB Cup and Amateur (Am) Championships already secured
leading into this weekend by JC Perez and Yuki Harata respectively,
Friday's races were highlighted by the Pro-Am Championship
culminating in a final-round drag race to the checkered flag which
saw the duo of Edoardo Piscopo and
Taylor Proto in the No. 150 entry
for US RaceTronics and Lamborghini Beverly Hills claiming the
Championship over their fiercest competitor, Austin Versteeg in the No. 116 entry for Change
Racing and Lamborghini Carolinas. A brutal battle all season long,
the three drivers have swapped the lead several times, and it was
only fitting that it came down to the round of competition.
Earlier Friday morning, Round 11 saw the Pro Championship
finalized, with another talented duo taking the overall prize.
Trent Hindman and Riccardo Agostini secured two more hard fought
Pro category race wins this week in the final two rounds and
clinched the title for Prestige Performance and Lamborghini
Paramus.
The series now looks forward to the World Finals which will take
place Saturday, pitting competitors from all three series,
Europe, Asia and North
America in a final battle for the ultimate Lamborghini Super
Trofeo honors. The finals consist of two 50-minute race features
with the Am and LB Cup Classes sharing the track in the first round
and the Pro and Pro-Am categories competing in the second. The day
will wrap up with the Championship Awards program and a celebration
of the 2017 season.
In Round 11 Friday morning, the green flag dropped and it was
Edoardo Piscopo that set the tone
for the day and took advantage of the hesitant start by front
runners Riccardo Agostini and
Jeroen Mul by threading through the
middle of the two Pro drivers and capturing the lead before the
first turn.
Not to be dissuaded by the turn of events, Agostini rebounded
quickly in his No. 101 Huracán Super Trofeo entry and recaptured
his lead before the start of the second lap. At that point, it was
clear sailing for Agostini, but fellow Italian Piscopo, never fell
completely out of Agostini's mirrors and as the pit windows opened,
the gap was less than two seconds.
In looking for an advantage, and to escape the clutches of
Michele Beretta, it was Mul who entered the pits first in the No.
134 entry for Change Racing and Lamborghini Carolinas. The veteran
sportscar driver conducted a flawless stop and headed out ahead of
his fellow Pro competitors.
But as Agostini transferred the car over to Hindman, the game
was "afoot" and Hindman quickly retook the lead and never looked
back, claiming their sixth win of the season and clinching the Pro
Championship.
Mul settled for second position on the Pro Podium and was
followed by Brandon Gdovic, who ran
a smooth and steady race despite a half-second penalty issued for a
pit lane infraction, moving around Taylor
Proto just before the one and only caution period of the
race to take third place.
In Pro-Am competition, it was Austin
Versteeg who ensured that the Championship would be pushed
into the final round. The young driver in the No. 116 entry for
Change Racing and Lamborghini Carolinas made a brilliant pass on
Taylor Proto in the renowned
Tamburello Chicane with just three minutes remaining to secure the
class win and fourth overall.
Proto and co-driver Piscopo were relegated to second place and
fifth overall, but well in contention for the championship as Round
12 would prove.
Series newcomer Yuki Harata enjoyed a stellar season of
competition in North America, and
despite already clinching the championship in September at Laguna
Seca, the driver of the No. 155 entry for Dream Racing Motorsport
maintained his sixth place starting position throughout the
entirety of the race and claimed his sixth victory of the
season.
Emmanuel Anassis, in the No. 118
entry for DAC Motorsports, supported by Toro Loco by MTech and
Lamborghini Palm Beach has been
dogging Harata's heels all season, and Friday morning's race was no
different. The series veteran took the checkered flag in second
place, with Ross Chouest taking
third in his No. 103 entry supported by Antonelli Motorsport and
Lamborghini Dallas. Chouest had
minor contact with a driver in the Asian series which set him back
and foreshadowed the rest of his day.
Another series newcomer, Ryan
Hardwick in the No. 102 entry for Dream Racing Motorsport
and Lamborghini Atlanta claimed his first LB Cup victory of the
season finishing in eighth overall and edging out Cameron Cassels who only competed in one other
race this season at Laguna Seca, running in the Pro-Am
category.
LB Cup Champion JC Perez finished third in category in his No.
178 entry for Antonelli Motorsport and Lamborghini Broward, but he has been pulling
dual duty, sharing a car with veteran Corey
Lewis in the European series running in the Pro-Am category
and finishing as high as second place in category.
As the final race of the day began, it was Jeroen Mul who led the field to the final green
flag of the 2017 season.
The young Dutch driver held the lead for an impressive length of
time before his mirrors filled up with the black and blue No. 101
with Hindman behind the wheel. Despite having already clinched the
Pro category champion, Hindman stayed on the gas and quickly
maneuvered himself back into the lead, to ultimately take the Round
12 victory and giving him a double-race sweep.
The rest of the Pro podium mirrored Round 11, with Mul finishing
in second and Gdovic taking third-place honors. Michele Beretta,
running in the No. 110 entry he shared with sportscar racing
veteran Katherine Legge took fourth
place overall in their Prestige Performance entry for Lamborghini
Paramus.
But it was the Pro-Am category that was shaken down, as the
championship came right down to a drag race to the finish between
Versteeg and the duo of Proto and Piscopo. In a nail-biting
performance, Piscopo managed to hold off the hard charging Versteeg
for the last eight minutes of the race to take the class win and
ultimately, the championship. It is Proto's first season of
competition in North America and
his first category Championship.
Following in Hindman and Agostini's footsteps, Harata swept the
Am competition, taking his seventh and final victory of the season.
As per usual, he was joined on the podium by Anassis and Chouest
once again in second and third respectively. Chouest had some
trouble early in the race and was forced to pit, pushing him four
laps down.
In LB Cup, the top two steps were also a repeat of Round 11 with
Hardwick securing his second victory and race sweep, with Cassels
following in his footsteps to secure second place.
Shaking it up however, was series newcomer Sheena Monk in the No. 111 entry for Prestige
Performance and Lamborghini Paramus. In her first race with the
North American season, the self-professed gear head had an issue in
Round 11, taking her out of contention, but rebounded to take her
first series podium finish in third place, ending her season as a
potential preview for what is to come in 2018.
LB Cup Champion Perez locked up the brakes early in the race in
a pass on Hardwick, which forced him off-track and into early
retirement from the race.
The Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo adopts the V10 direct
injection engine mounted on the road car, managed by a MoTeC
control unit that delivers a maximum output of 620 horsepower. The
frame is a hybrid carbon/aluminum construction with modified
geometries to house an improved radiator up front and better
accommodate the racing gearbox at the rear, which also provides
better aerodynamics.
Lamborghini and its dealers entertain VIP guests at every
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America event in the Lamborghini
Village, which features lavish hospitality and amenities.
For more information on Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America,
visit squadracorse.lamborghini.com, follow @LamborghiniSC on
Twitter and Instagram and like the Lamborghini Squadra Corse
Facebook and YouTube pages.
Race 1 Post-Race Quotes:
AUSTIN VERSTEEG (No. 116
Change Racing, winner, first ProAm):
"The race was crazy. Everyone was very aggressive on the first
few laps of the race; just had to keep the nose clean and pick my
way through traffic. We had a little bit of a rough go in
qualifying, but we always have really good race pace, and that's
been shown throughout the year. Once I got past a few of the guys,
it was just trying to close the gap between [Edoardo] Piscopo and [Taylor] Proto and we did that. Luckily enough,
we then had a yellow that helped us even more and I was able to
make the move with three laps left to get ahead and win the class,
and more importantly, take control of the championship headed into
the final race. We have one more to do, but it was awesome having
to manage tires because this track's quite harsh over the curves
with the tires and the heavy full load. But yeah, very happy and
can't thank Change Racing enough along with DXDT. They're the ones
that helped me get to this point all the way to the U.S.
Championship, and I hope to have the same result in race two and
end up being the champion."
TRENT HINDMAN (No. 101
Prestige Performance, winner, first Pro):
"I'm getting more and more comfortable I feel with the track
every lap. It's a scenario where, unfortunately with the weather,
there wasn't too many laps to be had earlier on this week, so for
me, every lap is a learning process and hopefully we're improving.
Ricky had a great qualifying effort and a really great first stint.
A pretty big gap opened up, and we had a killer pit stop. The
Prestige Performance guys and Wayne Taylor Racing timed it
beautifully. They gave us a great car. We came out of pit lane and
were able to expand the gap by a little bit, but then we had the
safety car. At that point, I was starting to get a little bit
anxious because I knew we had some tough competition behind us and
I'm not fully comfortable with the track yet. For me, it was a
scenario where it was do-or-die for the most part. Just had to go
out and push and see what happened. Fortunately, it all worked out.
Little bit of wheel spin on the restart to get the nerves going, so
that was great. But no, for the most part, we had a really good end
of stint speed, which was awesome. We were fortunate to be able to
finish the mandatory 70 percent of the race and lock up the
drivers, teams and dealerships championship for Prestige
Performance, Wayne Taylor Racing and Lamborghini Paramus, so really
cool there. Pressure is off a little bit now, so we can relax, but
we still need to focus fully on how we're going to improve
ourselves and the car for the World Final."
RICCARDO AGOSTINI (No. 101
Prestige Performance, winner, first Pro):
"Honestly, we'll try to give our best as always. Today's race
was really good, especially first stint and during second stint, we
had a really good pace. We'll see what will happen this afternoon.
We're trying to work on the car to have a good performance in the
World Final. So yeah, we'll see. We'll try to do our best."
YUKI HARATA (No. 155 Dream Racing Motorsport, winner, first
Am):
"I'm super happy. I was trying to follow the Pro group and
trying to make a gap to the second group, and the pace was really
good. I'm trying not to push too much before the championship, and
I think I'm good for the championship and the second race. I'm
trying to push to be ready for the World Final."
RYAN HARDWICK (No. 102 Dream
Racing Motorsport, winner, first LB Cup):
"It was a great race. The start was a little tough for me.
Everyone bunched up and I was lucky to get through there alive. I
fell back in class at the start, but I kept consistent pace and we
were there in the end. I was able to make some passes late in the
race and brought it home first in class, and I'm really proud of
seventh overall for the USA
grid."
[Tell us about race strategy for race two and onto the World
Finals for the rest of the weekend.]
"Yeah, race two we're viewing as preparation for the World
Finals. We're here for the World Finals. Unfortunately, I'm out of
the running for the U.S. Championship in my class, but I'm focused
on doing my best for the world championship. We're going to
continue to work on our car setup, which is pretty good right now,
and we're focused on winning the B Cup Class for the World
Finals."
Race 2 Post-Race Quotes:
TRENT HINDMAN (No. 101
Prestige Performance, winner, first Pro):
"Really good preparation for the World Finals, but race number
one we had the pressure on.We had the dealership championship on
the line for Lamborghini Paramus, and the Team Championship on the
line for Prestige [Performance] and Wayne Taylor Racing, so once we
got past 70 percent of race one, we were able to relax a little
bit, but I mean obviously you don't show up to one of these races
to cruise around and not push for a win, so specifically for race
2, I really wanted to get the lead at the start, but Jeroen [Mul] had a good reaction time as well. I
thought I would be able to jump him there because you know
Americans and drag racing and that sort of stuff but it was good,
we had a good scrap with him. I just knew that once we started
catching traffic, I started picking the points where he was having
some trouble and where I could stay right with him. I followed him
through on a couple passes and fortunately it worked. I would like
to think that we forced him into a little bit of an error just
putting him under pressure, but I know he is too good of a driver
for that, so I think maybe we just timed it right, but either way,
incredible run by Riccardo
[Agostini] setting quick laps at the end. Really good race
overall. I think we have a good platform to work off and I think we
were in good shape."
EDOARDO PISCOPO (No. 150 US
RaceTronics, winner, first Pro-Am):
"I think honestly Taylor [Proto]
drove his best race of the season. His move on [Austin] Versteeg was what really made us win the
Championship. I'm really proud him. This year we had some highs and
lows which is typical in motorsport. We started and seemed very
strong in COTA, we had some bad luck in the middle of the season
and now we are back strong. This is my fourth season in Super
Trofeo, I am kind of the veteran in this series, but I've enjoyed
it this year in my new role as Pro-Am, driver coaching Taylor. I
think we really have a good shot tomorrow to maybe bring home the
world title too."
TAYLOR PROTO (No. 150 US
RaceTronics, winner, first Pro-Am):
"I couldn't have asked for a better debut season. I had an
outstanding co-driver who taught me everything he knew and I still
got a little bit to go, but I am so appreciative for everything
he's been able to do for me this season from consistent results to
be an outstanding teacher. Really crafting my driving style.
Competition was stiff as it could have been, down to the last race
in the championship. I couldn't have asked for a better way to push
myself and all credit to Austin
[Versteeg], he's an outstanding driver and he races
completely fair. I am just extremely happy. I'm glad I chose to do
this. I'm glad I actually have a path now."
RICCARDO AGOSTINI (No. 101
Prestige Performance, winner, first Pro):
"I'm feeling really great. We have really good pace. Me and
Trent [Hindman] are very quick, so
let's hope for the best tomorrow and we will see what happens."
YUKI HARATA (No. 155 Dream Racing Motorsport, winner, first
Am):
"It feels amazing and I am happy I became a North American
Champion. It was amazing first of the year for me. It was a lot of
fun and I am almost ready to go to be a World Champion too."
All media inquiries please contact the
Squadra Corse Press Office:
Lorenzo Facchinetti
M. +39 348 8629861
extern.lorenzo.facchinetti@lamborghini.com
Related Files
Imola Race Release.docx
Imola Race Release.pdf
Related Links
Lamborghini Squadra Corse Website
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