Sant’Agata Bolognese, 29 August 2019 - The famous Nürburgring circuit in the Eifel Mountains of Germany plays host to the penultimate round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season, with the title battle hotting up ahead of the season finale next month.
Bonaldi Motorsport pairing Danny Kroes and Sergei Afanasiev lead the Pro standings on 98 points following a third win in four races last time out at Spa-Francorchamps. Erstwhile points leaders Kikko Galbiati and Vito Postiglione (#44 Imperiale Racing) are a further 13 points adrift after contact with the #30 Leipert Motorsport car of Anthony Lambert curtailed their running in the opening race. Galbiati and Postiglione did however manage a close second to Kroes/Afanasiev in Race 2 to remain in the hunt for the championship.
British duo Stuart Middleton and Jack Bartholomew (Bonaldi Motorsport) are third in the standings, just five points back from Galbiati and Postiglione after claiming their second win of the season at Spa in breathtaking fashion. Middleton made the most of team-mate Bartholomew taking his mandatory pit-stop one lap before the leaders to overtake three cars in two corners to brilliantly win the opening race at Spa, and the pairing added a fourth place in Race 2 to put themselves to within touching distance of the top of the standings heading into the Nürburgring weekend. They are just one point ahead of the second of the Imperiale Racing cars of Bartosz Paziewski and Karol Basz.
ArtLine Team Georgia’s Shota Abkhazava moved clear in the Pro-Am standings following a double victory at Spa. The Georgian driver is now 31 points ahead of his regular 2019 team-mate Harald Schlegelmilch - who missed the Spa round, but will be returning to action this weekend - while the GT3 Poland entry of Grzegorz Moczulski lies third.
It is a similar story in the Am class where AGS Events’ Nico Gomar holds a healthy 22-point lead over the Leipert Motorsport pairing of Mikko Eskelinen and Jake Rattenbury, while Robert Zwinger is only nine points further back in third. Eskelinen and Rattenbury had closed the gap to Gomar after claiming pole position and victory in the opening race, but were taken out of Race 2 early on following contact, giving Gomar the chance to consolidate his advantage at the top.
Benoît and François Semoulin continued to keep their Lamborghini Cup points lead ticking over following another successful outing at Spa. The Belgian partnership have 104 points, some 22 ahead of AGS Event’s Jose Collado.
There will be a number of new faces gracing the Nürburgring paddock this weekend, with several teams running additional cars as the season draws to a close. Leipert Motorsport will field a third car, with Spa 24 Hours Silver Cup winner Jordan Witt teaming up with Chinese driver Oscar Lee in the Pro-Am category. Joining them in Pro-Am will be the all-British partnership of David Fairbrother and John Butel in a third ArtLine Team Georgia entry. Having made his Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Am class debut in Spa last month, Frenchman Gilles Vannelet will again race alongside Nico Gomar in the #89 AGS Events car. Local driver Holger Harmsen will also join the Am category in his #90 Attempto Racing Lamborghini Huracán.
The weekend’s action begins on Friday with two one-hour free practice sessions, with both qualifying sessions scheduled for Friday. Race 1 will take place at 15:55, while the second race will start at 09:35 on Saturday. Both races will be streamed live on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel and Facebook page.