‘Eye-Opening’ Euro Races Set U.S. Pairing on Course for Title

An ‘eye-opening’ decision to enter the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season finale paid dividends for Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh as they went on to become the only American drivers to claim a global title at the Lamborghini World Finals.

The event at Vallelunga included the closing rounds of the North American, European and Asian seasons before those grids were combined for the World Finals element.

McGee and McIntosh, who won this year’s Super Trofeo North America Am title, were unique among the U.S. competitors in choosing to also do the two European races.

They linked up with Italy’s Imperiale Racing, which enabled them to perfect their setup and gain more track time ahead of winning the Am class at the World Finals in the No. 169 Precision Performance Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2.

Their preparations for the event also included a single-day test earlier this month to get acquainted with the Imperiale team and the Vallelunga circuit.

“We did it because we knew the Europeans know this track and have done thousands of laps on it,” McIntosh told Sportscar365.

“So we thought, why don’t we come out and just try it? It was an eye-opener. If we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t have done as well.

“Luca [del Grosso, Imperiale team principal] and Ricardo, their race engineer, are amazing. It feels really good.

“They played a huge part in getting me up to speed because I’ve only been driving for two years. Everyone helped to get us here.”

McGee added: “The setup is totally different for the Europeans and we learned a lot, just from feel. They wouldn’t tell us anything.

“But we were with Imperiale, which is an amazing team. We wouldn’t have done this without PPM and Imperiale.”

After doing both European races, McGee and McIntosh missed the Super Trofeo North America season finale on Friday to preserve their PPM car for the World Finals.

They went on to qualify first, courtesy of McGee, and seventh for the pair of 50-minute Am/LB Cup races, putting them in a good position to win the global championship.

Going up against many of the cars they had raced against during their time with Imperiale, the duo won Saturday’s race and finished third on Sunday to seal the title.

“Coming here, we were kind of the underdogs,” reckoned McIntosh.

“They warned us coming in here that the U.S. was not as strong as the European guys were. Then in practice, we saw how good they were.”

McGee continued: “There is a lot of art form at this track, and we were able to make up time where we were lacking. Our setup was quite good in the slow stuff.

“We had a lot of pressure on us from the U.S. paddock because we were holding it down for America! So we were happy to bring the title home.”

The decisive moment in the Am battle occurred when Super Trofeo Europe Am champion Gabriele Rindone, who was ahead of McGee in Race 2 and on course for the global title, put two wheels on the grass exiting Semaforo and spun into another car.

That paved the way for McGee and McIntosh to become the only Americans to become global champions this year, after European entries prevailed in Pro, Pro-Am and LB Cup.

“We both respect Rindone because he’s done an excellent job to win the European championship and we really respect the Leipert Motorsport team as well,” said McGee, who started out as a professional iRacing driver before getting into real-world motorsport.

“I was actually kind of sad to see his spin because he put on a mega pace. He made it not easy on us. He’s been a great competitor.

“It’s been the toughest competition we’ve had all year.”

Having won a Super Trofeo regional and global title double, McGee and McIntosh are now open to setting their sights on the next tier of the Lamborghini racing pyramid.

When asked what they plan to do next year, McIntosh replied: “Probably more Lamborghini Super Trofeo and maybe some GT3 stuff.”

McGee added: “We’re hoping we’re at that level. We’ll see.”