Italian GT: Vicky Piria wins season-opener at Misano

Italian-British driver Vicky Piria took class victory at the first round of the Italian GT Endurance Cup season at Misano along with SP Racing teammate Matias Russo. Also in the race was the all-female lineup of Faems Team, who finished fourth in class on debut.

Photo credits: ACI Sport

Returning to full-time competition this year, Vicky Piria picked up where she left off, enjoying a strong run in the season-opening Misano round of the Italian GT Endurance Cup for SP Racing in the GT Cup Division 2 Pro-Am class.

The second division of GT Cup also saw the #510 Faems Team Porsche, albeit in the AM class, with its brand-new lineup of Federica Levy, Emma Segattini and Jenny Sonzogni, who stayed out of chaos to take valuable experience onto the next round of the season at Monza.

Qualifying was held on Saturday, with the three GT Cup sessions being split up by the GT3 ones. In the first round of qualifying for GT Cup, the #411 SP Racing Porsche was driven by Matias Russo, while the #510 was driven by Federica Levy. In the 10-minute session, Russo posted the seventh best time which was good enough for second in class, while Levy was 17th overall and sixth in class.

20 minutes later, the second GT Cup qualifying session got underway, in which the #411 was driven by Vicky Piria and the #510 by Jenny Sonzogni. The former set the 12th fastest time overall and third in class, while Sonzogni managed to post the fourth best time in class and 16th overall.

At 19:40 local time, the third and final GT Cup qualifying session was held, in which Matias Russo returned to the #411, while the #510 was driven by Emma Segattini. After a relatively calm start to the session, a crash at Riva caused the session to end prematurely, with Russo finding himself sixth overall and first in class, while Segattini was sixth in class.

Overall pole went to the #99 Attempto Racing Audi, which in the GT3 sessions posted a combined time of 4:37.630 to take pole from both the #66 and #63 VSR Lamborghinis.

Having taken the second best time in class, Vicky Piria was satisified with her form: It went well, we are second, so it's a good start but it feels a bit bitter as I lost a lot of time in two corners and it makes me a bit angry, but when you combine everything it's a really good start", Piria told us after qualifying.

"I haven't raced in a while, changed teams, got along quickly with SP Racing and with Matias, who I didn't know prior to this weekend but it's almost like we've worked together for a long time", she continued. "Tomorrow the race will be really long, and I think pace-wise we're looking good and we're aiming for the win, hoping it will go well as with 42 cars on the grid, things are bound to get chaotic."

Photo credits: ACI Sport

At the start of the race, the #99 Attempto Racing Audi held the lead at the start from the #1 Ceccato Racing BMW as some cars sustained damage on the opening lap, including the #77 Nova Racing Honda, which became the race's first retiree.

Just as the field began to settle down, at the 10 minute mark, the #1 Ceccato Racing BMW of Stefano Comandini lost his rear right wheel during turn five and retired at the side of the track. With the BMW M4 at the side of the track, the Full Course Yellow was initially brought on track, which later turned into a safety car period while the Ceccato Racing BMW was brought to a safer place.

Shortly after the race got back to green flag conditions, the 10-minute pit window opened, allowing everyone to pit, but at the end of the window the #99 remained in the lead with Fabio Rauer jumping into the car for the second stint.

However, the #99 was overtaken by the #63 VSR Lamborghini of Rodrigo Testa a handful of laps later at turn 4 as the #403 Easy Race Ferrari of Lorenzo Bontempelli spun at Curvone, taking some gravel with him as he returned to the track. At the same time the #66 VSR Lamborghini also took the gravel, albeit at the Rio corner, suffering a puncture which it carried until it entered the pits.

With 130 minutes left, the #107 AF Corse Ferrari of Andreas Bogh-Sorensen suffered a mechanical problem and was struck by the #16 Antonelli Motorsport Mercedes of Aaron Farhadi, putting both cars out of the race and putting the safety car on track just before the one hour mark.

The race resumed just before 100 minutes remained on the clock, and with the order remaining the same after one hour and 40 minute mark, the first points of the season were awarded. The #63 VSR Lamborghini, now in the hands of Andrea Frassineti, took 12 points for leading in the GT3 Pro class and Overall, while the #411 SP Racing Porsche of Vicky Piria and Matias Russo also took top honours in the GT Cup Division 2 Pro-Am class and the #510 Faems Porsche's all-female lineup were fifth in their class and thus scored six points.

Photo credits: ACI Sport

Near the halfway mark, the #169 AF Corse Ferrari was spun by the #33 Star Performance Lamborghini, with the latter coming off worse as its front left fender was damaged and started rubbing onto the tire.

After having lost the lead to the #99 Attempto Racing Audi off-camera, the #63 VSR Lamborghini of Andrea Frassineti crashed at Curvone, however, the safety car wouldn't be immediately deployed despite the Lamborghini being on the gravel at the time. It wouldn't take long for the safety car to appear, albeit after the #21 Audi Sport Team Italia went off at the exact same spot as the #63.

During the safety car period, the #151 AF Corse Ferrari suffered problems of its own, slowing down just after turn eight but carried on to the pits and rejoined the race shortly after. The race was restarted shortly after and so did the pit window, during which the #85 Imperiale Lamborghini momentarily led. Meanwhile, the #8 Barone Rampante Lamborghini and the #151 AF Corse Ferrari both had mechanical problems of their own, briefly coming to a halt before returning to the pits.

With under half an hour remaining, the #88 Attempto Racing Audi of Alberto di Folco, which caught fire earlier in the race, stopped just before the pit entry. At the same time, the #403 Easy Race Ferrari and the #569 Raptor Engineering Porsche both retired after separate trips through the gravel owing to broken suspensions.

Due to the three separate incidents, the safety car was called on track, but it wouldn't last for long as the racing resumed with 16 minutes to go.

In the closing stages, the #510 Faems Team Porsche of F.Levy-Segattini-Sonzogni was 24th overall, which it managed to keep despite a spin with less than five minutes to go. As the race neared its end, the #26 Haas RT Audi of Axcil Jefferies overtook the #62 AF Corse Ferrari of David Vidales to take the final spot on the overall podium with two laps to go.

In the end, the #99 Attempto Racing Audi won overall from pole, ahead of the #85 Imperiale Lamborghini and the #26 Haas RT Audi, which not only rounded out the podium but also won in the GT3 Pro-Am class. The #83 AF Corse Ferrari held on to win the GT3 Am class, while the #169 AF Corse Ferrari won the GT Cup Div.1 Pro-Am class and the #273 DL Racing Lamborghini won the GT Cup Div.1 Am class.

Having ran as high as 14th overall, the #411 SP Racing Porsche of Vicky Piria and Matias Russo won in GT Cup Div.2 Pro-Am, while the #545 ZRS Motorsport Porsche won in GT Cup Div.2 Am, as the all-female lineup of Faems Team #510 finished fourth in class on their debut.

Speaking after the race, Piria was relieved about the result: "The race was really hard, we started second and we got lucky when the Ferrari ahead of us got a puncture and had to go back to the pits."

"When it came back out on track, we battled really hard for the lead, which was easier than we initially thought because our pace was really strong throughout the race", she continued.

"I'm very happy with the result, we didn't think a win was possible today, but this is a very good way to start off the season and we'll try to keep the form going into Monza, which will certainly be tough. The race was a roller-coaster with all the safety cars and it felt like having raced eight sprint races, but I'm very happy with the result."