Lewandowski Wins Shortened Am/LB Cup Grand Finals Opener

Andrzej Lewandowski won the opening Am/LB Cup race at the Lamborghini Grand Finals at Portimao in a race that reached a premature conclusion due to a red flag.

The No. 60 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 was classified 3.1 seconds clear of the No. 148 Precision Performance Motorsports car of David Staab and Nikko Reger, with Shehan Chandrasoma completing the overall podium.

The opening Grand Finals race of the weekend was red flagged and did not restart as the result of a crash between Cyril Leimer and Bart Collins.

Leimer’s No. 19 Autovitesse entry spun while battling with Jason Keats and was rear-ended by Collins’ No. 104 MCR Racing machine, damaging both cars and scattering debris all over the track.

Initially, race control called for a safety car before the red flag came out with six minutes remaining on the clock.

Lewandowski, already the Am class champion in Super Trofeo Europe, was declared the winner. The Polish driver started fourth but was up to third on lap one when Gabriel Rindone was tagged into a spin.

He then worked his way past Staab shortly after the restart from an early safety car to collect a stranded Claude Senhoreti.

Once the pitstops cycled through, Lewandowski then emerged on track in the lead of the race ahead of Staab and Reger and Chandrasoma.

The No. 199 car of Jordan O’Brien and Ron Atapattu, which lead the opening half of the race, dropped back after the stops and ultimately faded to fifth behind Alex Au.

The LB Cup victory went to newly crowned North American champion Slade Stewart.

The No. 114 ‘Sparklefarts’ Flying Lizard Motorsports car was declared the winner after a penalty for the No. 8 Rexal FFF Racing Team entry of Luciano and Donovan Privatelio.

The Privatelio duo came across the line first, but were still required to serve a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. With the penalty not served due to the red flag, it was instead translated into a 40-second time penalty.

They dropped to sixth in class as a result, with Stewart wining ahead of the Semspeed pair of Francois and Benoit Semoulin.

Jason Keats and Charlie Martin rounded out the class podium.