McGee, McIntosh Win Global Am Title After Main Challenger Spins

The American duo of Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh won the Am class title at the Lamborghini World Finals after a spin cost their main challenger Gabriele Rindone.

The Precision Performance Motorsports duo finished third in Sunday’s 50-minute contest for the Am and LB Cup categories, adding to their victory in Race 1 on Saturday.

That gave McGee and McIntosh the highest aggregate score over the World Finals weekend among the Am competitors.

However, they were playing catch-up to Rindone throughout Race 2 until the Leipert Motorsport driver put two wheels on the grass in avoidance of a backmarker exiting Turn 10 and spun into podium contender Grzegorz Moczulski.

That drama elevated McGee from fifth to third as the safety car came out, dramatically thrusting his car back into the title frame.

The reigning North American Am class champion then held station through the short dash to the checkered flag to secure the crown.

Rindone ended up finishing sixth in Am, while the Autovitesse pairing of Alban Varutti and Julien Piguet dominated from pole position.

Rindone ran third during the opening stint behind Varutti and Absolute Racing’s Changwoo Lee.

McIntosh, meanwhile, was stuck in seventh behind VSR driver Piergiacomo Randazzo, who was also in contention for the Am championship.

The pit stops resulted in a shake-up in the order, as the GT3 Poland Lamborghini of Moczulski rose to second by virtue of staying out until the end of the window.

That dropped Rindone to fourth, although a gearshifting issue for the Absolute car brought the Italian back into the podium positions until his costly incident with 12 minutes to go.

Randazzo and Giovanni Anapoli finished second in the race and the aggregate standings, with McGee and McIntosh third on the road and LB Cup winner Graham Doyle taking fourth, after charging past several Am drivers following the restart.

However, it was the driver who finished second in LB Cup, Shota Abkhazava, who captured the World Finals title.

It initially looked as though North American entries would sweep the Am and LB Cup honors as Race 1 winner Mark Wilgus had a solid start to the second encounter.

But just after Rindone lost his chances of the Am title, so Wilgus dropped out of LB contention when he got caught up in an incident between two other drivers.

Ofir Levy turned Kurt Wagner around at the Turn 10 hairpin right-hander and Wilgus picked the wrong side as he entered the gravel and struck Levy’s Lamborghini.

RESULTS: Am/LB Cup Race 2