Misano Weekend Notebook
Photo: Eros Maggi/Lamborghini
***This weekend’s event marks the second time that the Lamborghini World Finals have been held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, following on from 2021. In total, eight different venues have hosted the event since the first edition in 2013. Jerez was the host venue last year, while Vallelunga, Sepang, Sebring, Valencia, Imola, Vallelunga and Portimao were also previously selected.
***Misano also becomes only the third circuit to host the World Finals more than once after Vallelunga (2013, 2018) and Jerez (2019, 2024) did so previously.
***Renaud Kuppens, who won last year’s Am title, will not take part in the World Finals. His co-driver Hugo Bac will compete solo in the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, which moves up from Pro-Am to Pro as a result of the change.
***The No. 168 RAFA Racing Team machine, due to be driven by Werner Neugebauer and Augusto Soto-Schirripa, was withdrawn from the weekend. Although the car is on-site at Misano, it did not take part in either of the two North America races and is not expected to feature in the World Finals races either. The team, led by Kevin Conway and Rafa Martinez, still has two cars on the entry list: the No. 199 Lamborghini of Rocky T Bolduc and the No. 102 car driven by Jem Hepworth and Lindsay Brewer.
***Similarly, Precision Performance Motorsports is set to scale back its entry to two cars for the World Finals, with the No. 147 car of Brandon Gdovic not set to compete on Saturday and Sunday. Gdovic explained that he contested the pair of North American races in order to collect more data for the team’s two other cars, driven by David Staab and Sebastian Carazo and Gabriel Holguin, respectively.
***The No. 233 Batmobile Racing Lamborghini, which raced in the Asian LB Cup class with Kumar Prabakaran at the wheel, will also not be competing in the World Finals races. The Malaysian is instead taking part in the non-competitive Essenza SCV12 sessions that take place as part the support package this weekend.
***Friday’s track action also saw Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia’s regular season come to a close, with Kai Shun Liu and Qikuan Cao capturing the Pro-Am championship. True Vision Motorsports Thailand driver Suttiluck Buncharoen, meanwhile, clinched the Am title on Thursday. Both the Pro (Charles Leong and Alex Denning) and LB Cup (Supachai Weeraborwornpong) champions had already been crowned at Sepang in early September.
***Leipert Motorsport, which has cars entered in both the European and Asian championships, is set to rotate four drivers across three different cars this weekend. Brendon Leitch, who won the Pro-Am world title last year, contested the regional European finale in the No. 70 Lamborghini alongside Nicolas Stati but joins Asian co-driver Jiajun Song for the World Finals in the No. 289 car. Instead, German racer Jacob Riegel will pilot the No. 70 car solo in the World Finals. The German shared the No. 227 Lamborghini with Ethan Brown for the final two races of the Asian championship, with Brown in turn set for solo driving duties on Saturday and Sunday.
***Meanwhile, Stati, who took a European weekend sweep with Leitch on Thursday and Friday, is contesting the World Finals with an entirely different team as the solo driver aboard the No. 277 Lamborghini Bundang by Racegraph entry.
***Another driver that has had to chose between two different cars for the remainder of the weekend is Enzo Geraci. Having completed his North American commitments with ANSA Motorsport, the Frenchman will contest the World Finals with Oregon Team and co-driver Josef Knopp. Colin Queen, Geraci’s North American teammate, will drive solo aboard the No. 104 Lamborghini.
***This weekend’s double header will guarantee a new world champion crowned in two out of four categories, with only Leitch (Pro-Am) and Holger Harmsen (LB Cup) returning in the same class as last year. Pro world champion Egor Orudzhev has moved to Pro-Am to form a pairing with series stalwart Shota Abkhazava, while last year’s Am winner Kuppens will not race at all.
***Of note, Anthony McIntosh, who took the Pro-Am title alongside Leitch last year, is absent this weekend. The American is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain with Racing Spirit of Leman.
***McIntosh is still the driver with the highest number of individual World Finals race wins at four. Frederik Schandorff, who is driving alongside Andrzej Lewandowski, sits at three wins and can surpass the American this weekend. Leitch and Glenn McGee are on two wins each, meaning they can pull level with a weekend sweep.
***2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson was spotted in the Misano paddock on Friday, supporting his younger brother Hampus, who is contesting the World Finals with Wayne Taylor Racing.
***Similarly to previous years, a number of key figures from IMSA are present at the World Finals. This includes Brandon Huddleston, the vice president for partnership marketing and business development as well as single-make platforms director Duane Sampson. Race director Todd Snyder and senior race director of race operations Mark Raffauf are also on-site to oversee the final two races of the North America championship.
***Additionally, IMSA officials are participating in the scrutineering process for the sixth and final round of the North America championship for the first time at Lamborghini’s joint end-of-season event. Eric Haverson, IMSA’s director of technical compliance and scrutineering, has traveled to Italy to oversee this process.
***All races held this weekend will start with two formation laps. This change, a departure from the usual format, was made at the request of U.S. competitors, as revealed by Lamborghini North America’s senior motorsports manager Erik Skirmants.
***GRT Grasser Racing Team’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa-winning Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 is on display in the Misano paddock, along with the winning trophy. Luca Engstler, Mirko Bortolotti and Jordan Pepper took Lamborghini’s breakthrough maiden victory at the Ardennes endurance classic earlier this year.
***Bortolotti, Engstler and Pepper are part of a large number of Lamborghini factory drivers that will be on-site for this weekend’s event, with Loris Spinelli, Marco Mapelli, Sandy Mitchell, Franck Perera, Christian Engelhart, Edoardo Mortara and Andrea Caldarelli also set to attend. Caldarelli, notably, is part of the broadcast crew, serving as a guest pit lane reporter.
***Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, which is based out of the nearby town of Forli, has also put its pair of Italian GT Championship-winning GT3 cars on display in the paddock. The team won both the overall Sprint title with Andrea Frassineti and the Pro-Am title with Ignazio Zanon and Mattia Michelotto. All three drivers are Super Trofeo graduates.
***With all of the regional championships now wrapped up, focus turns to the World Final races held across Saturday and Sunday. The fields from Europe, North America and Asia will be combined, with sessions then split into separate ones for Pro and Pro-Am and Am and LB Cup cars. Champions will be crowned based on cumulative points across the two races using the usual Super Trofeo distribution system.
***Qualifying for the World Finals races takes place Saturday from 10:35 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. CET (4:35 to 7:10 a.m. ET). The opening Am/LB Cup race kicks off shortly afterwards at 1:45 p.m. CET (7:45 a.m. ET), followed by the opening Pro/Pro-Am race at 4:20 p.m. CET (10:20 a.m. ET).
***The champions will be crowned with another pair of races held on Sunday, with the deciding Am/LB Cup race first at 12:15 p.m. CET (6:15 a.m. ET). The Pro/Pro-Am finale is then held at 2:3o p.m. CEST (8:30 a.m. ET).
***All races will be streamed live on the official Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel. Bruce Jones will serve as the lead announcer, with Baptiste Moulin, Stuart Middleton and Jack Bartholomew set to rotate as co-commentators. Caldarelli and Dakota Jane are serving as pit reporters.
Source: Sports Car 365