Imperiale Feels “Prepared” for Sprint Cup Debut with Pro Lambo

Imperiale Racing’s sporting director says that the organization’s heightened approach to the Italian GT Championship makes it well-prepared for its step up to the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup at Misano this weekend.

The Mirandola-based squad is making its Sprint series debut with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo driven by the Pro pairing of Alberto Di Folco and factory driver Albert Costa.

Luca Del Grosso explained that Imperiale felt assured arriving into the SRO Motorsports Group paddock and attributed that to the group’s “attitude” toward the national series where it runs a pair of Lamborghinis full-time.

Imperiale’s last GTWC Europe appearance occurred in 2020 when it took part in the Endurance Cup season-opener, while back in 2017 it won the International GT Open title with Giovanni Venturini. In recent years it has concentrated on the domestic GT3 scene.

“In Italian GT, our attitude is to do more than required,” Del Grosso told Sportscar365.

“For example, mechanic suits are not mandatory in [Italian GT] Sprint, but we do it, just to keep our level of attitude higher.

“The Italian GT organization is happy to have us in the championship because we keep the level higher than required. I love to work in this way. For me, Italian GT has a lot of potential.

“Yesterday we looked around and felt not so lost.

“We are not WRT, for sure. But looking at the other teams, what is the difference? The budget, essentially. They have drivers with big budgets who can help to have bigger trailers and so on.

“But we are happy with the level of approach of our guys. We are not so lost, because we were already prepared.”

Del Grosso explained that the team worked scrupulously to prepare for its GTWC Europe Sprint Cup debut.

“The level here does not permit any mistakes,” he said.

“We have dismantled almost everything to do revisions, visual checks and replace parts.

“Most things are new such as the clutch and flywheel.

“We checked calipers, master cylinders, everything. We dedicated one day to aerodynamics: we placed the car in a position and measured 30 points under the floor.”

Imperiale holds the benefit of competing in a pair of two-driver sprint races at Misano four weeks ago for an Italian GT round, where Di Folco put the team on pole position.

While the national series also uses the Pirelli P Zero DHF tire, Imperiale found it had some early setup issues to resolve based on its findings from a four-hour test session on Thursday.

“There is still some work to do because it’s a new entry in the series,” Costa told Sportscar365.

“There is a lot to learn, especially with the pit stops where you don’t have a time limit and many teams are strong here.

“Luckily Alberto and I are more or less the same height, so we don’t have to change the seat.

“But we need to work hard on the setup side, from Italian GT to here. We need to do some small changes to improve the car. We are on the right way, but the enemies are very strong.

“We need to work hard, but I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Del Grosso feels that a top-three result is plausible for his team at Misano and that the approach is different compared with Imperiale’s last GTWC Europe outing at Imola, where survival was the target with a driver lineup that lacked factory involvement.

“The best for us should be to get a podium,” he offered.

“To win, I don’t think [so] because I have to be realistic. The first thing is to not do mistakes. The car and everything technical was OK [in testing].

“But if you look at it statistically, Lamborghini has won just once here. A podium would be fantastic.”

Team Hoping to Enter Sprint Cup Full-Time 

Del Grosso hopes that this weekend’s Sprint Cup toe-in-the-water experience can be the launch point for a full-season effort in GTWC Europe Sprint Cup next year.

He noted that Misano is an important event because the team is aiming to perform under the eye of the “big brother” Lamborghini organization.

“Our dream is to be here for the whole season,” Del Grosso said.

“We have to be clever and strategic. We have to think why we are here, and not in [the 24 Hours of] Spa? Because in Endurance there are too many Lamborghinis.

“We wanted to have more support, so we did Sprint. Maybe for the future, we can be here.”