With a spectacular comeback, Loris Spinelli and Max Weering triumphed in race 2 of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe at Portimao, taking their ninth win of the season, and beating the all-female Iron Dames team in finally sunny weather conditions at the Autódromo do Algarve.
At the start there was a multi-car incident in the steep downhill section heading into the hairpin that eliminated Daniel Waszczinscki, Luciano Privitelio and Marco Rostan, with the safety car springing into action to allow the cars to be removed.
When the race resumed on lap 5, with 37 minutes remaining, there was further contact between PRO champion Weering and Stéphane Lemeret, who finished in the gravel at turn 10-11. Bonaldi Motorsport’s Dutch driver was handed a 10 second penalty to be added at the end of the race.
Meanwhile Doriane Pin, who started from pole position, was able to put a safety margin between herself and the chasing group, before handing over the wheel to Michelle Gatting. The Dane however found herself behind Spinelli when they came out of the pit lane, and the Bonaldi driver started to push hard to get back into contention.
The 2022 champion set an infernal pace for the rest of the field, lapping 3 seconds quicker than the Iron Dames driver each time round, and going on to take a well-deserved success.
Amidst the Iron Dames team however there was great satisfaction for Pin and Gatting’s first podium in their debut race in the Lamborghini Grand Finals series.
The battle for the final podium place went to Jean-Luc D'Auria/Stéphane Tribaudini (VSR), after race 1 winner Amaury Bonduel slipped to fourth with a 1 second penalty for a pit stop infraction.
With an overall top 5 placement, Milan Petelet/Dmitry Gvazava were giving the win in PRO AM to Target Racing, but a spin on the last lap handed it to Karol Basz/Bronek Formanek (Micanek Motorsport).
Sixth place went to Marzio Moretti/Milan Teekens (Target Racing), who also had a spin in the second half of the race while fighting for an overall podium slot.
Massimo Ciglia/Lewis Williamson, new PRO AM winners, took their Oregon Team Lamborghini to seventh overall and second place in the category podium, followed by Edoardo Liberati/Martin Ryba (Brutal Fish Racing Team), who were penalized for a contact with another car that dropped them down to third.
The top 10 was completed by Emanuele Colombini/Emanuele Zonzini (VSR) in ninth and Andrzej Lewandowski, who with the GT3 Poland car was crowned AM class champion, while the podium was completed by Gabriel Rindone (Leipert Motorsport) and Stéphane Guerin.
In the Lamborghini Cup the Semoulins easily dominated the race, but Gerard Van der Horst only needed a second place to be crowned champion. Third was Hans Fabri (Imperiale).
