Sant’Agata Bolognese/Zandvoort 11 August 2019 – Lamborghini recorded its first ADAC GT Masters victory of the season in the hands of Orange1 Grasser Racing Team’s Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands. Bortolotti took the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo to pole by the narrowest of margins over the Porsche of Patric Niederhauser (+0.072s) but quickly opened up a healthy lead early on with Bortolotti at the wheel.
A pair of safety car interventions stopped Bortolotti from extending their lead even further, but the #63 rejoined from the mandatory pit-stop still in the lead as Engelhart took over. Engelhart was pushed all the way to the flag by Klaus Bachler’s Porsche but produced a sterling defensive effort to claim the win by just three-tenths of a second.
The second GRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Marco Mapelli and Michele Beretta produced a similarly impressive performance to secure their first ADAC GT Masters podium with third in the #19.
Bortolotti and Engelhart added a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Race 2, with the Rolf Ineichen/Franck Perera GRT pairing the best Lamborghini finishers in fourth, at the wheel of #83 Huracán GT3 Evo.
Mirko Bortolotti: "We've worked hard for this. It feels really good to win here. It was about time that we returned to winning ways. I managed to book a mega pole this morning, putting us in the ideal position for the start. I then did not put a foot wrong in the race. I think the way we've performed so far this year has been more or less spot on throughout. Unfortunately, we've not been able to translate that into race wins or top results, but we certainly managed it today, so I'm feeling very pleased."
Christian Engelhart: "The race was a real thriller. Mirko managed to pull out a small gap initially, but then the safety car came out and our lead vanished. I had to work really hard when I took over the car. The strong wind meant that you never knew whether the rear end was going to step out or not. It wasn't easy. Klaus kept increasing the pressure on me towards the end, and we had quite a scrap. He might even have been a bit faster towards the end, but we were able to defend the lead. I'm delighted with our success."
Marco Mapelli: "It's never easy to get on the podium here - especially with the level of competition being so high. I tried not to make any mistakes and stay in touch with the race leaders. It's very difficult to overtake on this track, and that's why I just wanted to get through my stint OK."
Michele Beretta: "We're happy with the result and I think we deserved this podium. Marco did a great job in his stint. I know how hard it got towards the end with the tyres."