McGee, McIntosh Win Eventful Opening Am/LB Cup Race

Precision Performance Motorsport drivers Glenn McGee and Anthony McIntosh won an eventful opening race for the Am and LB Cup classes at the Lamborghini World Finals.

The Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Am champions took the lead in the opening stint courtesy of a fightback from McGee, who started from pole and regained the two positions that he lost on the opening lap.

Autovitesse driver Julien Piguet made the best start, launching from fourth into the lead, while Ibrahim Badaway slotted into second.

An early safety car period, caused by Zhilong Kang losing control at Turn 2 and hitting another car as he rejoined out of control, kept the front-runners close together.

McGee made a strong restart, sweeping around Badaway on the outside at the Cimini double-right before diving down the inside of Piguet for the lead at the Tornantino hairpin.

Piguet then lost almost half a minute when he recovered from a spin after a clumsy passing attempt at Turn 8 from Badawy, who received a 10-second penalty.

That drama enabled McGee to stretch his legs at the head of the field and he gave his co-driver McIntosh a healthy nine-second lead after the pit window.

Another safety car — caused by Adrian Lewandowski punting Nigel Bailly into the gravel — brought Badawy onto the tail of McIntosh with Wesley Slimp running third.

McIntosh successfully defended from Badawy over the final 10 minutes, which included a late safety car due to contact from Jean-Francois Brunot on Holger Harmsen, and narrowly beat the Egyptian teenager to the checkered flag.

Badawy’s penalty dropped him to 10th in the classification and enabled Gabriele Rindone to take second place for Leipert Motorsport.

Giovanni Anapoli and Piergiacomo Randazzo completed the podium, with Super Trofeo North America drivers David Staab, and Slimp and Tyler Hoffman, rounding out the top five.

North American competitor Mark Wilgus took a surprise victory in the LB Cup class after race leader Blake McDonald was turned around by Kevin Madsen at the final corner.

Wilgus came from far back in the field to win, after several front-running entries fell by the wayside.

They included Petar Matic, who was third, being hit at Turn 8 shortly after the final restart, and second-placed Shota Abkhazava getting a 10-second penalty for contact with fellow LB Cup contender Donovan Privitelio.

RESULTS: Am/LB Cup Race 1