Leitch wins European pro title in thrilling fight; Lewandowski, Rindone and Privitelios take class crowns
Sant’Agata Bolognese/Campagnano di Roma, 17 November 2023 – The final round of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season at the Autodromo Vallelunga crowned all four European champions and settled the remaining class titles from North America and Asia on a dramatic last day of the regular season.
Leipert Motorsport’s Brendon Leitch prevailed in a thrilling final race of the season to claim the European Pro title, while VS Racing’s Andrzej Lewandowski wrapped up the Pro-Am crown after race one. Gabriel Rindone finally took his first Am class championship and Luciano and Donovan Privitelio were crowned Lamborghini Cup champions.
In North America, Anthony McIntosh and Glenn McGee clinched the Am title after qualifying. Meanwhile, in the Asian series, Supachai Weeraborwornpong won a closely contested Lamborghini Cup title while Thai duo Aniwat Lommahadthai and Pasarit Promsombat secured the championship with second in race two.
EUROPE PRO/PRO-AM
RACE 1
Qualifying reflected the intriguing championship fight between Leitch and VS Racing’s Mattia Michelotto/Gilles Stadsbader. From pole, Michelotto led off the rolling start, maintaining and then extending his margin over Leitch across the first stint to around four seconds. Leitch pitted with 25 minutes remaining, while Michelotto predictably waited until the last opportunity to swap over with Stadsbader. The #6 VSR machine held a near-six second lead after the window closed, but Leitch began to push and reduced the margin to nothing entering the final stages. The two drivers then embarked on a thrilling battle for supremacy, with Leitch diving to the inside of turn 11 and making slight contact with the rear of Stadsbader’s car. Both cars suffered damage and Leitch allowed Stadsbader back ahead on the following lap. The lead then changed twice more as Leitch made a lunge at turn eight, only to run too deep, which gave Stadsbader and Michelotto the chance to see out their fifth victory of the year by half a second.
Andrzej Lewandowski wrapped up the Pro-Am title to become the first-ever five-time class champion in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Alongside VSR team-mate Loris Spinelli, the Pole took victory and an overall ninth-place finish, beating Iron Lynx’s Emanuele Zonzini and Emanuel Colombini.
RACE 2
Just 1.5 points separated Michelotto/Stadsbader and Leitch heading into the final race of the season, but Leitch started fourth overall and second in the Pro class, while the #6 could only manage 13th on the grid. Polesitter Frederik Schandorff bolted off the rolling start to establish a comfortable Pro-Am lead as Loris Spinelli backed Target Racing’s Largim Ali and Leitch into the pack. The opening lap was dramatic as the Iron Lynx entry of Rodrigo Testa de Sousa was pushed onto the grass and was narrowly avoided by those behind at turn four. Leitch seized the Pro lead from Ali but was left frustrated behind a tactical Spinelli until the pit window opened. Twice, Spinelli dummied to enter the pits which forced Leitch to fall under pressure from Bonduel. Stadsbader had not made good progress behind and copped a five-second penalty for contact with Luca Segù (Lamborghini Roma by DL Racing). Leitch lost out to Ali’s team-mate Oliver Söderström after the stops and then came under attack from a resurgent Michelotto who was handed another five-second penalty for pushing Bonduel wide at turn eight, which all but extinguished his title hopes. A late safety car after Target Racing’s Robert Greenwood found the turn 12 gravel trap bunched the field up again for a five-minute shootout, with Söderström, Leitch and Michelotto all getting past leader Alex Au at the restart. Michelotto then passed Leitch on the final lap after going wheel-to-wheel with the Kiwi a lap prior, but it was not enough to take the title. Leitch, with a pit-stop penalty of 0.6s, finished third at the end behind Oregon Team’s Marzio Moretti and Sebastian Balthasar.
Brendon Leitch (#86 Leipert Motorsport), Lamborghini Super Trofeo Pro champion said: “I am really just so thankful to everyone who has supported me this year. The car has been great all season, and Leipert put together a strong team. The trick was just to not make any mistakes and get to the finish. Loris made it really, really difficult for me but I knew I just had to keep a cool head. The car had good speed and I knew what I needed to do and they [VSR] had a lot more pressure on them. Thanks to my team and sponsors and Lamborghini Squadra Corse for their support this season.”
Pro-Am champion Andrzej Lewandowski (#16 VS Racing) said: “I am very happy to win my fifth title, seventh in total [including two World Finals victories]. Today was quite an easy day, I had a bit of a problem at the start of the race, but my team-mate is unbelievably fast and with him, sometimes it’s easy to win.”
EUROPE AM/LB CUP
RACE 1
Series newcomers Alban Varutti and Julien Piguet (Autovitesse) produced a clinical performance in the first of the combined Am/Lamborghini Cup races. They started fourth on the grid but moved up to second as the polesitting car of Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh slipped back. Piguet then seized the lead from Boutsen VDS’ Roee Meyuhas around the outside of turn three, with McGee making a three-way fight for the lead. The order stayed the same after the pit-stops, but Varutti caught and passed McIntosh – who swapped with McGee – on the approach to turn 10 with just over 17 minutes to go. Behind, Badawy was catching the pair and the Egyptian teenager boldly slid up the inside of McIntosh under braking for turn eight to snatch second.
Jürgen Krebs (Leipert Motorsport) moved into the lead of LB Cup with his third successive victory, while erstwhile leaders Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matić – who started from the back after a practice crash forced them to miss qualifying – retired. Luciano and Donovan Privitelio finished second to remain in title contention.
RACE 2
Race two started behind the safety car as overnight rain altered track conditions significantly from the previous day. In Am, Badawy held a 4.5-point margin over Rindone but fell back from third on the grid in the early stages as Rindone made progress up to the podium before the pit window opened. Varutti built an 18-second lead over Renaud Kuppens (Boutsen VDS) before the stops, with Piguet bringing the #63 Autovitesse car home to an easy win. Rindone survived a late collision with Randazzo to come home third, securing the title as Badawy was grounded by a technical issue which left him stranded on track. The Lamborghini Cup title was settled in even more dramatic circumstances as Donovan and Luciano Privitelio came out on top by just 1.5-points from Leipert Motorsport’s Jürgen Krebs. The father-and-son combination led from start to finish, but Krebs was denied the title on the very last lap after being overtaken by Kenneth Linthout (TotaalPlan Racing).
Am champion Gabriel Rindone (#21 Leipert Motorsport), said: “It feels really good, I didn’t expect it to be honest, because we had a lot of issues [in round five] and I crashed the car the other day. But we came with a good mentality, and I just gave it my all. The damp conditions are something I like so that made the difference. We found a good compromise after some engine and setup issues last weekend, so we’re happy now and we can focus on the World Finals.”
LB Cup champion Luciano Privitelio (#8 Iron Lynx) said: “After four years racing together, it feels really wonderful to win the title. Until the last minute, I had no idea what the points were, I had no information at all, but the team told me after the finish that, ‘OK, you won’ and it was a big relief.”
Team-mate Donovan Privitelio reflected: “I was really nervous, but I saw the other car going faster and faster and he got the job done, we got the points that we needed thanks to someone else! After all these years, it feels amazing.”
NORTH AMERICA
RACE 1
Wayne Taylor Racing’s Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal returned to winning way in the first North America race on Thursday, claiming their ninth victory of the season in dominant fashion. The Pro champions started from pole and led the Ansa Motorsports entry of Nico Jamin throughout the opening stint. Jamin switched with Sebastian Saavedra, but the latter fell behind the second WTR Huracán of Ryan Norman and the TR3 Racing machine of Lucas Petersson in the second half of the race, with the order remaining that way until the end. In Pro-Am, US RaceTronics claimed the win courtesy of Patrick Liddy and Blake McDonald after a hard-fought race with TPC Racing’s Shehan Chandrasoma and Nikko Reger. Johannes van Overbeek and Christopher Bellomo completed the podium, profiting from contact between AJ Muss (Forty7 Motorsport) and Paul Nemshoff (Flying Lizard Motorsports). Am victory went the way of Wesley Slimp and Tyler Hoffman (PPM) while teenager Graham Doyle took the LB Cup win for Wayne Taylor Racing.
RACE 2
Anthony McIntosh and Glenn McGee secured the Am title by taking the point for pole position in qualifying and elected not to start the final race of the season. At the front of the field, Norman led off the start from Marcelli until the pit-stops when Formal resumed in front of the sister WTR Huracán, which had to spend an extra three seconds in the pit box. With Formal at the wheel, the road was clear for the #101 to take its 10th victory from 12 races, capping off a sensational title-winning campaign by just over four seconds from Norman and Taurino. Chandrasoma took the win in Pro-Am, ahead of the impressive Nate Stacy and Nick Persing, who charged from the back of the grid to finish second in class. In Am, David Staab gave PPM another victory, while Doyle backed up his race one triumph with a second in as many days in LB Cup.
ASIA
RACE 1
Having already secured the Pro title before the trip to Italy, Absolute Racing’s Marco Giltrap and Chris van der Drift put a further gloss on their dominant season by obliterating the field in the opening race on Thursday. The #284 crew cantered to victory by over a minute, as Harmony Racing’s Massimiliano Wiser and Shenghui Xu finished second. Giltrap led away from pole position but had to defend heavily from the TRT Racing Huracán of Jonathan Cecotto and Qiang Li throughout the first stint. The performance of the race was undoubtedly that of Am winners, Aniway Lommahadthai and Pasarit Promsombat, who finished a superb third overall. In Pro-Am, Cecotto and Li took victory after the DW Evans GT entry of Dan Wells and Oscar Lee were handed a drivethrough penalty for a pit-stop infringement. Elsewhere, Supachai Weeraborwornpong clinched the Lamborghini Cup title with second place in class behind Malaysian siblings Hairie Zariel Oh and Haziq Zariel Oh. Supachai’s path to the title a race early was aided by the retirement of main rival, Iron Lynx’s Kumar Prabakaran.
RACE 2
Van der Drift and Giltrap were again untroubled en route to their 11th victory of the season – and eighth in a row – in the second race, beating the Pro-Am winning crew of Dan Wells and Oscar Lee (DW Evans GP) and TRT Racing’s Jonathan Cecotto and Qiang Li. Van der Drift led from pole but had to resist the attack from Jackson Walls at turn two, before eventually pulling clear. Max Wiser initially kept up chase in the Harmony Racing entry and was up to third ahead of Tony Walls before trouble hit the #216 entry in the closing stages. Off the podium, Changwoo Lee and John Kwon took the race win in the Am class, but the Thai combination of Aniwat Lommahadthai and Pasarit Prosombat clinched the title with second place. In LB Cup, newly crowned champion Supachai beat the Zariel Oh brothers (HZO Fortis Racing Team).
Attention now turns towards the traditional end-of-season Lamborghini World Finals, where all three regional championships will duke it out to be crowned as the best Super Trofeo crew in the world. All races will be livestreamed on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel.