DANVILLE, Va. (Aug 16, 2018) – The Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series rolls into VIRginia International Raceway this weekend kicking off the second half of the 2018 Super Trofeo season. For Taylor Proto, teammate Edoardo Piscopo and the No. 50 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills team it’s an opportunity to build on the momentum gained following their round six win at Road America.
“The win at Road America was a great boost for us,” said Proto. “We’d been in the hunt the whole season, but to be right at the front of the pack definitely presents its own challenges.”
The 2017 Pro-Am World Champions made the move up to the Pro class for the 2018 season and following the round six victory have now moved into a tie atop the Pro class championship point standings with Corey Lewis and Madison Snow in the No. 29 Change Racing, Lamborghini Charlotte entry at 70 points apiece.
“Entering VIR our focus is on consistency,” said Proto. “This is a demanding track and the margin for error is quite small. If you’re going off it’s typically in a big way, so our main goal is to leave here with as many points as possible and to keep the car in good shape.”
With two class wins and two poles in this season, the No. 50 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills team has shown to be not only consistent, but consistently fast.
“I think the key to that success has been mitigated progress,” said Proto. “We haven’t radically changed how we do things trying to get quick results, more often than not we’re maximizing our resources extremely carefully and deliberately, but in the right places. Shane and his guys have done some amazing work these past two years, and I’m proud to see where we continue to go.”
Proto’s co-driver Edoardo Piscopo, who has had success at VIR, is hoping the team returns to victory lane this weekend.
“Our goal is to repeat ourselves after the win in Road America,” said Piscopo. “I won two races here in 2015 and I feel like I know the track well enough to attack from session one.”
Piscopo’s confidence and attack mentality is not lost on Proto, who recognizes that with each point making a difference in the championship battle, every finishing position will matter as the season head down the stretch.
“It would be easy to rest on laurels and arrive with a mentality of ‘just get by,’ but we want to take every opportunity as it’s handed to us,” Proto said of the US RaceTronics team’s VIR weekend preparation. “The perfect scenario would be leaving VIR solely in the lead of the points, and with some buffer to the guys behind.
“Everyone on the team intends to take each event step by step, and we plan to follow that here and just knuckle down and work out a result.”
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo event weekend at Virginia International Raceway gets underway with a pair of practice sessions on Friday, followed by qualifying for both races on Saturday at 9:55 a.m. ET with Race 1 on Saturday at 4:55 p.m. ET and Race 2 on Sunday at 10:25 a.m. ET. Both 2018 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series races can be streamed on IMSA.TV and squadracorse.lamborghini.com/super-trofeo/north-america.