Awaited and well-deserved: Hockenheim’s Race 1 sat the scenery for the first win of the season of the Villorba Corse Lamborghini of Leonardo Moncini and Rodrigo Testa. The Huracán of the two Italians (although Testa was born and lives in Portugal) showed speed and good potential throughout the season, but this time everything aligned well, with Moncini taking pole in the morning and the car winning from lights to flag.
“Today everything rolled out smoothly and after so many ups and downs and so much work, we could prove we can win, even with an older car. It’s really what we needed”, commented the two heroes, the fifth different winning pair this year. It’s exactly two years from the last Huracan win (at the Red Bull Ring) while for the team of Raimondo Amodio it’s a return to victory eleven years from the last one (Ricard 2015, with Balzan-Benucci in a Ferrari 458).
Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald (Greystone GT McLaren) resisted the attacks of Rafael Durán-Tommaso Mosca (AF Ferrari) to take another P2 and grab more points than the other title contenders. The AF Ferrari will later receive a 5-second penalty for a previous contact, leaving P3 to Pietro Armanni-Alex Fontana (ZRS Porsche).
The battle was fierce up to the end for the Pro-Am win, with Dexter Müller and Yannick Mettler taking their first success of the year in the SPS Mercedes, while Joel Monegro Reyes and Lucas Wolf signed the third success of the Fach Auto Tech Porsche #12.
THE RACE – Leonardo Moncini and the Villorba Corse Lamborghini are ahead of the pack for the first time of the season, as they took pole, and the Italian masters a perfect kick-off, keeping at bay Macdonald, Lebbon, Armanni and Cresswell, who has lost two position and is challenged by Mansell, who passes him in 3. In the meantime, Schwarzer has been forced to the pits after a contact.
Moncini manages to pull away in the opening laps but is catched up soon after the 7-lap mark. Gaps are marginal with Lebbon third one second behind and Armanni fourth, 3 seconds from the top. FollowMansell, Cresswell, Baumann, Ferrari, Pla, Wolf (first in Am) and Colavita. Comes then a bad moment for Polish drivers: Lewandowski makes is off in the grass but rejoins (lap 9) and one lap later, Mazur spins at the exit of turn 12, and Magdziarz does the same trying to avoid him. The safety car is deployed at the same time as Hahn stops along the track.
It’s a very lively restart in lap 14, but Moncini holds the fort ahead of Macdonald, Lebbon, Cresswell and Mansell, while Ferrari and Baumann pip Armanni. One lap later, the driver change window opens.
After all stops, Testa is in the lead with a 6-second gap on Meakin and 9 on Veselaho. The fight is right behind as Ramirez tries to keep fourth from the attacks of Geppert, himself challenged by Mosca. They both pass the Mexican and go to attack Veselaho, with Mosca achieving a double overtake not without some rubbing, which goes under investigation. Stanislaw Jedlinski leads in Am but he will be passed by Monegro and Lewandowski.
In the lead everything rolls out fine for Testa, who extends his lead, first marginally, then more clearly as Meakin has to defend himself from Mosca, who has emerged from the group. The Italian will attempt a last move on the outside in the very last corner but with no avail. Fontana is an excellent fourth after a nice charge ahead of Geppert and Emson.
The most exciting final battle is for the win in Pro-Am with Salaquarda defending from Mettler and Basz, but it’s the Swiss winning, while Basz will eventually concede two positions to Kell and Adam. In Am, Monegro wins ahead of Lewandowski and Hernández.
