Antinucci Controls Opening Race of Weekend at Laguna

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini

Richard Antinucci extended his Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America championship lead with a controlling victory in the first race of the weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Antinucci took his No. 27 Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo to a 1.926-second win over the No. 16 Change Racing duo of Jeroen Mul and Stevan McAleer in Saturday’s 50-minute contest.

Having started on pole, Antinucci stretched out into a nearly three-second lead over McAleer prior to the mid-race pit stop, which saw his advantage nearly disappear due to series’ rules mandating solo driver’ stops to be three seconds longer.

Antinucci rejoined just ahead of Dutch ace Mul to score his fifth win of the season and first since Watkins Glen in June.

The No. 1 Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini of Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal completed the overall and Pro class podium ahead of the No. 6 O’Gara Motorsport/US RaceTronics entry of Steven Aghakhani and Jacob Eidson, thanks to Eidson’s last-lap pass on the No. 48 Kelly-Moss Road & Race entry of Alec Udell.

Pro-Am class honors went to the No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports Lamborghini of Brandon Gdovic and Bryan Ortiz while Luke Berkeley picked up the Am class win in his No. 23 Dream Racing entry.

Bart Collins and Michael Mennella picked up LB Cup class honors following an opening lap melee that collected no fewer than three cars, including some class contenders.

The No. 47 PPM entry of Mark Kvamme was deemed responsible for the incident that included both the No. 33 O’Gara/USRT entry of John Hennessy and Randy Selari’s No. 03 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini in Turn 3.

Nelson Piquet Jr. went off-course one corner later, while the No. 61 MCR Racing entry of Max Weering also stopped on track with a puncture in a separate incident, resulting in a full course caution.

The race restarted with 38 minutes to go and ran green to the finish.

Race 2 is set for Sunday at 10:35 a.m. PT with live coverage on Lamborghini.com, Trackpass on NBC Sports Gold and IMSA.tv.

RESULTS: Race 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John