Second win of the season for Deledda-Pepper (Oregon Lambo), the Italian retakes points lead

Alessio Deledda and Jordan Pepper in their Oregon Team Lamborghini took their second win of the season today in Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring, in cold but largely dry conditions. Following Pepper’s pole in the morning, the #63 car led from start to finish, with the South African building a good gap in the first stint despite a safety car period and the Italian perfectly controlling all events in the final part, under the drizzle.

“Jordan did most of the job today, although it wasn’t easy in my stint, with a lot of the traffic and the rain starting to fall again”, said Alessio Deledda, who retakes the lead in the standings, ten points ahead of Reicher-Haase (Eastalent Audi), only ninth today in their home track.

The Lambo beat the Car Collection Porsche of Nico Menzel and Gustaf Bergström, who took its third podium of the season, and Rolf Ineichen, in his return, and Leonardo Pulcini were third completing the good day of Oregon.

It was a home win in Pro-Am for Ernst Kirchmayr, this time associated with Giacomo Altoè, its second of the season with the racing one Ferrari, ahead of Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz (Olimp Audi) and Valentin Pierburg-Aaron Walker (GetSpeed Mercedes).

Winning debut in Am for US racer Ziad Ghandour, in the AF Corse Ferrari, who beat standings leader Giuseppe Cipriani (Barone Rampante Lambo) and Heiko Neumann-Timo Rumpfkeil (Motopark Mercedes).

THE RACE - It’s almost dry but cold when the start is given, with poleman Jordan Pepper kicking off perfectly and building a 2-second lap advantage in the very first lap, as the fight behind him is fierce. Khodair has a less good getaway being progressively passed by Schiller, Dunner, Menzel and Basz, while the second group is led by Petrov. In lap 2, though, the safety car is out, as Cozzi slides in turn 3 and gets blocked in the sand, being slightly hit by De Meeus who has suffered a similar misfortune on the damp side of the track.

The restart is given after four laps and in lap 7 Pepper has already rebuilt his 2-second advantage, leading over Schiller, Menzel and Dunner in full fight, Basz, Khodair, Petrov, Ineichen, Menchaca, Marinangeli and Kell. Rumpfkeil leads in Am, while Hash and Nana get tangled one lap later, both spinning.

Pepper increases his gap up to 5.7 seconds by lap 15 when the pit stop window opens, with Schiller, Menzel, Dunner and Khodair still in the compact chasing group, while Ineichen has passed Petrov for 7th.

After all stops, Deledda leads with 5 seconds over Bergström and 7 on Bartone, with Jedlinski, L.Pulcini, Fluxá and Moretti in a second group and further away Siebert, Pierburg and Macdonald. Neumann keeps the lead in Am.

The gap between first and second fluctuates between 3 and 5 seconds for some laps while Pulcini passes Bartone for thir and Jedlinski slids to ninth behind Fluxá, Siebert and Macdonald but retains P1 in Pro-Am ahead of Altoè and Pierburg. Both Hahn’s and Mardini’s cars receive a 5-second penalty for not serving the entire handicap.

There won’t be big changes in the final laps except for Altoè passing Jedlinski and clinching victory in Pro-Am. 

Results are HERE