Putera-Levet claim clean sweep of victories at Barcelona

The battle for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Pro title will go down to the wire next month at the Lamborghini World Finals after VSR’s Adam Putera and Paul Levet claimed both victories at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Meanwhile, one title was already decided in Spain, as Georgi Dimitrov and Stéphan Guerin (CMR) were crowned Pro-Am champions with a round to spare.

Štefan Rosina and Bronislav Formánek (Mičánek Motorsport) shared the Pro-Am wins with Dimitrov and Guerin (CMR), while Am honours went the way of Pietro Perolini and Massimo Ciglia (Oregon Team) in race one, and Stéphane Lemeret and Rodrigue Gillion (CMR) in race two. Karim Ojjeh (Rexal Villorba Corse) took a brace of LB Cup wins for Rexal Villorba Corse.

Putera-Levet sweep weekend as Geraci-Knopp toil

Front-row starters Enzo Geraci (#36 Oregon Team) and Amaury Bonduel (#57 BDR Competition) both got an even getaway off the start and duked it out on the run towards the first corner. The pair then had to take to the escape road after running too deep, which initially gave Levet the lead before Benedetto Strignano seized the advantage under braking for turn four. Solo driver Strignano pulled away during the first stint but had to serve an additional three seconds at the mandatory pit-stop. Strignano rebuilt his lead after the first of two safety car interventions – for Christian Bortolato – and then lost out to Levet’s team-mate Putera after the pit window closed. Strignano chased hard in the second stint and used the second safety car restart with 10 minutes remaining to pile on the pressure as the race entered its latter stages. Putera held on to claim the victory by just over a quarter of a second. The returning BDR Competition entry of Bonduel and Sebastian Balthasar finished third ahead of debutants Ethan Brown and Elias de la Torre, who impressively leapt 19 places from their starting position. Points leaders Geraci and Josef Knopp dented their hopes after receiving a 10-second post-race penalty following contact which forced the #9 Target Racing entry of Patrik Fraboni and Giacomo Pedrini out of the race.

There was drama at the start of Sunday’s second race when Balthasar missed his braking point and spun into the path of Target Racing’s Guido Luchetti. The resulting incident took out Pro-Am title contender Dimitri Enjalbert and delayed the progress of Pro leaders Knopp and Geraci. Strignano led away from pole position but lost the lead after spinning on fluid dropped by Bortolato at turn seven. That allowed Levet and Putera into the Pro lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the 50-minute encounter. The clean sweep of victories for the #6 means Putera is now just three points adrift of Geraci and Knopp ahead of the final round at Misano next month. Pedrini and Fraboni bounced back from their race one disappointment with second place, while De la Torre and Brown capped off a great debut with third.

CMR’s Dimitrov and Guerin celebrate dominant title win

The battle for Pro-Am honours in race one went right down to the final laps as Mičánek Motorsport’s Bronislav Formánek and Štefan Rosina came out on top after a late overtake on championship leader Guerin. ASR’s Miloś Pavlović led early on from Georgi Dimitrov, but the positions reversed after the pit-stops, with Guerin taking over the #13 CMR machine. Rosina and Formánek were never too far from the front and chased down Guerin in the closing laps, eventually barging his way into the lead under braking for turn five. A lap later, the Boutsen VDS Huracán of Hugo Bac and Renaud Kuppens repeated the manoeuvre to seize second place. Dimitri Enjalbert and Anthony Nahra (BDR Competition) completed the podium as Guerin/Dimitrov finished fourth.

After avoiding the multi-car incident on the opening lap, Kuppens led the way early on either side of a lengthy safety car caused by Bortolato’s mechanical failure. The order remained the same until the pit window opened, with Guerin the first of the runners to come in to swap with Dimitrov. The latter then went on a charge and assumed the lead in the second stint, as Kuppens’ team-mate Bac dropped back with an issue. Dimitrov’s pace was so good that he sped through the overall field too, moving up to second and pressurising the back of Levet towards the end of the race. With their sixth win of the season, Guerin and Dimitrov provisionally wrapped up the title with a round to spare. Pavlović and Ruffini were second ahead of Formánek and Rosina.

Lemeret and Gillion claim maiden Super Trofeo victory on Sunday

Just two points separate VSR’s Stéphane Tribaudini and Piergiacomo Randazzo and Oregon Team’s Pietro Perolini and Massimo Ciglia ahead of Misano. Perolini and Ciglia had initially moved into the lead of the championship with their third class win in as many races, as Tribaudini and Randazzo could only manage third place in their #66 VSR Huracán. Polesitter Lemeret (#27 CMR) maintained his lead at the start with the returning Adrian Lewandowski (#5 GT3 Poland) in chase behind. Ciglia initially ran third before handing over to Perolini, who took the #61 Huracán forward after the pit window. Perolini led ahead of the second restart and held on to claim another win, with Lewandowski making a late overtake on Tribaudini to grab second. Off the podium, Lemeret and Gillion were fourth.

Having led the early stages of race one, Lemeret and Gillion went one better on Sunday as they picked up their first class win of the season, ahead of Randazzo and Tribaudini. The latter pair ran second overall and moved into the lead after Strignano’s spin before the pit window closed. Randazzo then came under pressure from Lemeret, who raced clear to victory in 10th overall, while BDR Grupo Prom Racing’s Alfredo Hernandez Ortega completed the podium.

Clean sweep edges Ojjeh closer to class title

From the rolling start, ASR’s Paolo Biglieri led the way from Adalberto Baptista (#14 Oregon Team) with Holger Harmsen initially running third before the German suffered a spin at Turn 11 in the opening stint. He dropped to the rear of the field and, after a second spin later in the race, finished a lowly seventh. Out front, Biglieri was in command until contact with the Pro-Am car of Shota Abkhazava at Turn 5. Biglieri was slowed but able to continue despite heavy contact but received a five-second penalty for his part in the collision while Abkhazava was delayed with a puncture. That gave Ojjeh the lead, which he maintained after the pit window closed. Team-mate Claude-Yves Gosselin finished second to ensure another Villorba Corse one-two, with Baptista settling for third at the end. Newcomers Fred Roberts and Jeff Courtney (#56 Leipert Motorsport) marked their European debuts with fourth.

Ojjeh was again the driver to beat in race two, dominating from another pole position to romp home ahead of Harmsen, who recovered from a difficult Saturday race. Francesco Turzo (DL Racing) claimed his first podium of the season in third. Race one podium finishers Gosselin and Baptista endured less than ideal races and were not among the victory contenders, meaning Ojjeh needs just one point at Misano to secure the class title.

Adam Putera (#6 VSR), race one winner, said: “It’s been a really amazing weekend, I couldn’t have asked for more, I am really, really happy. I would be lying if I said I was not stressed on the final lap [of race one], but I knew that overtaking here is very difficult and it would be hard for [Strignano] to pass, so I just put my car in the middle of the road.”

Team-mate Paul Levet (#6 VSR) said: “It’s such a team effort, Adam did a fantastic first stint and gave me a lot to fight with in the second stint. It’s incredible to work with him, not only as a team-mate but as a friend. We are the perfect combination, and we did a great job all weekend with these two victories. To come back after missing Nürburgring, is really amazing; I pushed as much as I could, and I am so happy to get these wins.”

Results are HERE