Marcelli, Formal Return to Winning Ways at Vallelunga

Champions-elect Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal took their ninth win of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season with a dominant Race 1 performance at Vallelunga.

It returned the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport duo to winning ways after their teammate Ryan Norman swept the previous round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Formal took charge of the 50-minute contest from pole position before handing the No. 101 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 over to Marcelli who completed the job with a 9.8-second margin over Ryan Norman.

After one lap behind the safety car to allow for the cars’ Hankook tires to adequately warm up, Formal kept his Lamborghini at the head of the Pro field.

Nico Jamin made a strong start from the second row, overtaking Norman shortly after the getaway, but Formal eked out a four-second lead over the Frenchman before the safety car returned with 15 minutes completed.

The interruption was caused by the No. 122 World Speed Motorsports Lamborghini of Carter Williams stopping at the side of the track with an issue.

That limited the size of Formal’s advantage before the pit window, which opened one lap after the race returned to green flag conditions with just over 30 minutes to go.

Norman and fourth-placed Giano Taurino pitted early among the Pro competitors, but the former’s slightly longer pit stop for being a solo driver impacted his chances of undercutting Jamin and Sebastian Saavedra.

However, Saavedra struggled during his stint and was overtaken in quick succession by Norman, then Taurino’s co-driver Lucas Petersson, who went down the inside at the Turn 11 hairpin before completing the move at the following high-speed left-hander.

Petersson finished five seconds behind Norman, who made it a one-two for the WTR Andretti squad, while Saavedra and Jamin settled for fourth.

Solo driver Jake Walker completed the top five in his Forty7 Motorsports Lamborghini.

Pro-Am honors went to the US RaceTronics duo of Patrick Liddy and Blake McDonald on their first appearance in the class this season.

The pole-sitting No. 170 Lamborghini of Alexandre Premat and Jason Logan looked strong in the opening stint as Premat mixed with the Pro front-runners, however contact with the No. 171 car in the second half of the race caused it to drop off the lead lap.

Nicholas Reger resisted a stern challenge from Johannes van Overbeek to claim second in Pro-Am alongside Shehan Chandrasoma.

There was a close finish in the Am class as Wesley Slimp narrowly held off Anthony McIntosh to win by 0.7 seconds.

Despite missing out on the race win, McIntosh and Glen McGee secured the Am championship considering their main rival David Staab ended up fifth.

LB Cup honors went to Graham Doyle who gave WTR Andretti a pair of class victories.

The final race of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season takes place on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CET (7:30 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Race 1