Ferrari one-two-three in Pro-Am class at Vallelunga

Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 crews locked out the top three places in Pro-Am class in the third round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship held at Vallelunga. Victory went to RS Racing’s Daniele Di Amato and Alessandro Vezzoni ahead of Mattia Michelotto, Sean Hudspeth and Matteo Greco of Easy Race, with third place taken by AF Corse’s trio of Simon Mann, Marco Cioci and Stefano Gai. The Piacenza team’s sister Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, entered in Pro class, crewed by Alessio Rovera, Giorgio Roda and Antonio Fuoco, finished fourth in the class, ninth overall.

Pro-Am. Di Amato got off to a fine start, taking second position and managed to fend off the assaults from the rivals while the #27 AKM Motorsport-run Mercedes held the lead. No sooner had the pit-lane opened for the driver changes, when Danny Kroes' Lamborghini Huracán went off track: although no Safety Car was called out, the yellow flags were unfurled, however no particular problems resulted.

Midway through the race Matteo Greco came under threat from Stefano Gai, who fought off the attacks and managed to pull away, moving very close to Vezzoni, who in the meantime had taken the lead, taking advantage of Akm Motorsport’s return into the pits for a service.

At this point, a fine ten-minute long tussle commenced between Greco and Vezzoni with the RS Racing driver keeping a cool head and barely flinching, to leave the Easy Race opponent in his trail.

Elsewhere, Stefano Gai ended up spinning off into the sand but was able to get back into the race, although losing ground to his opponents. No major hiccups occurred over the final hour, with the #25 Ferrari of RS Racing continuing to hold the lead. To the rear of the leader, a heated contest for the remaining top positions was underway. In the dying stages a determined Hudspeth reached and then overhauled Cioci, earning the class runner-up spot behind RS Racing who celebrated the triumph, taking fourth overall position. The Pro Am podium was, therefore, awash with Ferrari red: the win going to Di Amato - Vezzoni, second spot to Hudspeth - Michelotto - Greco and the lower step of the podium occupied by Mann - Cioci - Gai.

Pro. It was not the luckiest of days for the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in the hands of Roda, Rovera and Fuoco; after a notable start, the #71 AF Corse entry slipped to seventh place and began dropping seconds which had to be added to the pit-lane penalty hanging over from the Imola race. Roda was among the first to re-enter, trying to catch the rivals by surprise, however, during his stint, Rovera was obliged to pit once more due to a mechanical problem as well as forced to change tyres, which saw any hopes of registering a good result effectively vanish. Fuoco defended his position, finishing fourth, ninth overall, in a race won by the Lamborghini Huracán of Kikko Galbiati, Giovanni Venturini and Alex Frassinetti of Imperiale Racing.

Next event. The Italian GT Endurance Championship will be back on track at the weekend of November 7-8 at Monza for the fourth and final round of the season.