Easy Race wins Race 1 at Vallelunga to reignite the Pro-Am competition

After a Pro-Am class win in Race 1 of the Italian GT Championship Sprint series held at Vallelunga, Mattia Michelotto and Sean Hudspeth are back in contention for the title, helped along by the withdrawal of Simon Mann and Matteo Cressoni who, until that moment, had produced an excellent performance. It turned out to be a race to forget for Giorgio Roda and Alessio Rovera, victims of an unlucky collision after a brilliant showing earlier in the race, on a track covered by long wet stretches and dampened by the occasional shower. The outcome of the fifty-minute plus one-lap race, marking the penultimate round of the season, was heavily marred by the Safety Car, deployed on two occasions.

Double Safety Car. The first Safety Car entrance was triggered, shortly after half-an-hour of racing, to remove Simon Mann's car from the circuit, which had been left stationary mid-track after a technical issue. Until that moment, Alessio Rovera in second, had done well to fend off attacks from a gung-ho Drudi, while Mattia Michelotto, Mann and Alessandro Vezzoni all battled for seventh position. With twelve minutes of racing still to go, the cars resumed hostilities with the Easy Race 488 GT3 Evo 2020, driven by Sean Hudspeth, in fourth overall position, ahead of Giorgio Roda.

Contact. The AF Corse driver, nevertheless, was to become the protagonist of two decisive collisions. The first came from Venturini's Lamborghini, forcing the Italian off-track and causing him to drop two positions; the second with Ferrari's Mercedes which sent him into the wall at the Roma turn. The driver of the German car was to see his efforts come to an early end on the same lap when he hit the barriers at the Tornantino hairpin, once again triggering the Safety Car which returned to the track only to usher the cars past the final chequered flag. With fourth final place, first in Pro-Am class, Husdpeth and Michelotto are back in the challenge against Mann-Cressoni, while Vezzoni-Di Amato posted fifth place. Fourteenth position, seventh in Pro class, went to Rovera-Roda, who were nevertheless able to make the finish-line.

GT Cup. Two Ferraris were on the podium in the GT Cup class, thanks to a sixth win of the season for Matteo Greco and Riccardo Chiesa, never in any question. Elsewhere, an excellent debut in the Italian series from Alessandro Cozzi, who finished the race in third place ahead of Danish driver Christian Brusborg.