Soederstroem, Ali Win Red-Flagged Season Opener

A call to remain on track on slick tires during heavy rainfall netted Oliver Soederstroem and Largim Ali victory in the first Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe race at Imola, while Amaury Bonduel came out on top in Race 2.

The Target Racing duo were declared the winners in a race that was red flagged when a rainstorm swept the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday, resulting in very difficult conditions.

Bonduel, who started from pole in his No. 28 BDR Competition Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, held an early lead over Vincenzo Sospiri Racing driver Mattia Michelotto when the weather drastically worsened.

A combination of high winds, thunder and lightning and eventually rain brought out the safety car, during which Bonduel, Michelotto and most of the other front runners pitted for wet tires.

However, the No. 9 machine of Soederstroem and Ali stayed out, which paid off as the rest of the race was run under safety car before it was red flagged with 22 minutes to go and did not resume.

Sebastian Balthasar and Jacob Riegel were classified second for Leipert Motorsport, while Oregon Team pairing of Leonardo Caglioni and Enzo Geraci completed the overall podium.

The No. 2 Boutsen VDS Lamborghini of Roee Meyuhas and Renaud Kuppens took the Pro-Am class win in fourth overall, while Nigel Bailly emerged victorious in Am and Charlie Martin and Jason Keats took their first Super Trofeo Europe win by claiming class honors in LB Cup.

Sunday’s Race 2 began with better weather conditions and Bonduel once again starting from pole position.

The Belgian, last year’s World Finals winner in the Pro class, maintained his lead at the start and then overcame three separate safety car restarts to claim his first win of the season.

Ali and Soederstroem finished second, courtesy of a move by Ali that saw him squeeze past the No. 16  Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini of Andrea Frassinetti into Tamburello on the opening lap.

While Frassinetti eventually faded to ninth, the overall podium was completed by the Iron Lynx duo of Pavel Lefterov and Stefan Bostandjiev.

In Pro-Am, the Micanek Motorsport pairing of Stefan Rosina and Bronislav Formanek narrowly beat the No. 4 Iron Lynx entry of Joran Leneutre and Claude-Yves Gosselin with the margin between the two just 1.618 seconds at the flag.

Shota Abkhazava completed a lights-to-flag performance to win in LB Cup, while the father-and-son pairing of Adrian and Andrzej Lewandowski picked up victory in Am.

Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe returns to action on May 9-11, when it again forms part of the FIA World Endurance Championship support package at Spa-Francorchamps.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2