Soederstroem, Ali Capture Points Lead in Barcelona

Largim Ali and Oliver Soederstroem captured the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe points lead heading into the Lamborghini World Finals after title rival Amaury Bonduel suffered a pair of setbacks at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The penultimate round of the European schedule featured three races instead of the regular two, as organizers opted to add a third round to compensate for the cancellation of Race 2 at Le Mans in June.

While Bonduel started two out of three races from pole position, the Belgian left Spain 9.5 points behind Target Racing pairing Ali and Soederstroem, largely due to a penalty in Race 1 and a retirement in Race 3.

Bonduel, as well as Ali and Scuderia Villorba Corse driver Alberto di Folco, ran across the gravel at Turn 1 in damp conditions for the start of Race 1, but was later given a 20-second penalty for incorrectly rejoining the track together with Di Folco.

While the BDR Competition by Grupo Prom driver recovered to storm up to take the checkered flag in first place, the penalty dropped him to 24th in the final standings while Vincenzo Sospiri Racing duo Mattia Michelotto and Andrea Frassineti were declared the winners ahead of Soederstroem and Ali.

Bonduel repaired some of the damage done with a controlling run to victory from pole during Race 2 on Sunday morning, the Belgian suffered another significant setback in a multi-car incident at the start of the final race.

He made contact with Target Racing driver Hampus Ericsson at the exit of Turn 5, triggering a crash that took out both drivers as well as Giorgio Amati, Rodrigue Gillion, Paul Levet, Anthony Macintosh and Karim Ojjeh.

After a 30-minute safety car, Egor Orudzhev went on the attack, seized second place from Iron Lynx’s Pavel Lefterov and closed on Edgar Maloigne before Milos Pavlovic spun and triggered a race-ending safety car.

Orudzhev crossed the line in second but was declared the winner after a pitstop penalty dropped Maloigne to seventh, thus picking up his second win of the season. He later dedicated the victory to his grandfather, who passed away on Sunday.

Crucially, Soederstroem and Ali finished second and reclaimed the points lead over Bonduel, now holding a 9.5-point advantage heading into the Lamborghini World Finals at Jerez on Nov. 14-15.

While McIntosh was eliminated during the third race, he was victorious in the Pro-Am class as part of a new partnership with the returning Pro champion Brendon Leitch during both Race 1 and 2.

Micanek Motorsport pairing Bronislav Formanek and Stefan Rosina came out on top during Race 3.

The Am class, meanwhile, produced three different winners, with Adrian Lewandowski (Race 1) and Stephan Guerin (Race 2) taking one win each while Piergiacomo Randazzo and Stephane Tribaudini came out on top during the third contest.

Art-Line driver Shota Abkhazava claimed all but one class victory in LB Cup, with Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matic denying him a clean sweep by winning the opening race on Saturday.