NEWS
1-2 FINISH AT IMOLA CROWNS SUCCESSFUL WEEKEND FOR THE VSR LAMBORGHINIS
Sep 28, 2025
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Italian GT Sprint, Imola - Italy
Victorius Imola weekend for VSR and Lamborghini
The penultimate round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship took place at Imola, VSR’s home circuit, this weekend. There was one driver change for the team - with Edoardo Liberati absent Andrea Frassineti was joined at the wheel of the 63 Pro Lamborghini by Scot Sandy Mitchell. The 19 and 66 cars were unchanged from last time out at Mugello. Alessio Deledda and Yuki Nemoto in the 19 Pro machine and Mattia Michelotto and Ignazio Zanon in the 66 Pro-Am car. The team added a fourth car for the event; running in Pro, the number 6 was piloted by Franck Perera and Loris Spinelli.
After two sessions of weather disrupted free practice on Friday it was sunny for the Saturday morning qualifying sessions. Setting the times for the race one grid were Perera, Deledda, Frassineti and Michelotto. Michelotto was the best of the VSR drivers, parking the 66 Lambo on the front row, his fastest lap just 0.034 seconds off poleman Ferrari. Frassineti lined up behind him on row two with Perera one row further back and Deledda on the sixth row.
A clean start to race one saw Michelotto and Frassineti settle into third and fourth with Perera running in sixth and Deledda gaining two places to move up to ninth. On lap two an off for Gandhour bought out the Safety Car and when racing resumed there were fifteen minutes to go before the opening of the pit window. Perera, who spent most of his stint defending from the BMW pair of Alatolo and Klingmann, was forced to pit with a puncture on lap eleven just before the driver change window opened. The first of the VSR cars to stop in the window was the 63 with Mitchell taking over from Frassineti and the pair discounting a fifteen second success penalty from the car’s Mugello win. Deledda followed him in and Nemoto took over the 19. Michelotto, hanging on to the rear of second placed Jelmini, stayed out until the end of the window before pitting for Zanon. Perera followed him in and Spinelli jumped into the 6. Once all driver changes were complete and all handicaps discounted, Zanon was leading the Pro-Am standings, Nemoto was running seventh and Mitchell ninth, with the Championship leading BMW of Krohn sandwiched between them. A drive through penalty for the race leading Ferrari for jumping the start moved everyone up one spot and as the race entered the final ten minutes attention turned to the battle for the Pro-Am podium where Zanon, third overall, was fending off challenges from Caglioni and Colavita. With five minutes to go there were six cars scrapping for the final overall podium place and Zanon had already received a couple of taps from Caglioni’s BMW as he fought to find a way past. The VSR driver defended brilliantly and took the chequered flag third overall and first in Pro-Am. Nemoto was sixth and Mitchell eighth, a points finish just enough to maintain his co-driver Frassineti’s slender Championship lead.
Mitchell started race two from pole position after blitzing the second qualifying session with a lap six tenths faster than everyone-else. Spinelli started just behind him from the second row while Nemoto and Zanon found themselves further back, their best laps compromised by a red-flag with six minutes left of the session. A clean start saw Mitchell shoot away into the lead closely followed by Spinelli. Zanon made up three places but a puncture for Nemoto forced him to pit at the end of the opening lap. Following a string of fastest laps Mitchell pulled out a six second gap to Spinelli who in turn had seven seconds over Colavita, Di Amato and Krohn fighting over the final podium place. Lying sixth in Pro-Am, Zanon fought off an attack from Rauer and then joined the train of cars backed up behind Raghunathan in sixth. By the time the pit window opened on lap fourteen Nemoto had recovered to seventeenth. First of the VSR cars to pit was Zanon, discounting a nine second success penalty before Michelotto took to the track in the 66. Nemoto was next in, Deledda jumping into the 19, whilst Mitchell and Spinelli pitted at the end of the window. Frassineti inherited the race lead with Perera running rear-guard for his team-mate. Michelotto, fastest man on track, was up to ninth overall and fourth in Pro-Am and Deledda had moved up to fifteenth as the race entered the final fifteen minutes. By lap twenty-nine Deledda had gained another three places as Michelotto enlivened the final minutes of the race by dicing hard with Denes for eighth overall. Out front it was an untroubled run to the flag for Frassineti and Perera who cruised home to take a 1-2 finish for VSR and Lamborghini.
Success at Imola leaves Frassineti with a slender lead in the overall Championship and Michelotto and Zanon second in the Pro-Am standings. The Sprint Championship concludes at Monza next month.
2025 Italian GT Sprint Calendar
Round 1 Vallelunga, Italy 24-25 May
Round 2 Mugello, Italy 12-13 July
Round 3 Imola, Italy 27-28 September
Round 4 Monza, Italy 25-26 October
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