Perolini, Ciglia Dominate Am/LB Cup Race 1

Oregon Team pairing Pietro Perolini and Massimo Ciglia stormed to a dominant victory in the opening Am/LB Cup contest at the Lamborghini World Finals after a start line issue for polesitter Stephane Tribaudini.

Perolini started the No. 61 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 on the outside of the front row, but was promoted to the lead before the race even started.

This was because Tribaudini pulled off the circuit coming out of the final corner of the formation lap, having suffered an undisclosed issue.

While the No. 66 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing car eventually retired, Perolini and Ciglia would go on to take a lights-to-flag victory over the No. 32 ASR machine of Paolo Biglieri.

Although Biglieri, who is driving solo, would close on Ciglia in the closing stages of the race, he crossed the line 4.530 seconds behind the winning No. 61 car.

Dean Neuls completed the overall podium at the wheel of the No. 170 TR3 Racing machine as the highest-placed North American competitor.

The Canadian withstood late pressure from the No. 130 ANSA Motorsport entry of Antoine Comeau, who finished fourth.

Karim Ojjeh completed the overall top five in the No. 7 Rexal Villorba Corse Lamborghini, defeating stablemates Donovan and Luciano Privitelio in the process.

Donovan Privitelio ran inside the top three during his stint, but the car began to drop back when his father Luciano took over driving duties after the mandatory pitstop.

The elder Privitelio also played a role in the battle for third overall that was fought out between Neuls and Comeau.

Neuls’ No. 170 car initially ran behind Comeau as the two drivers came up behind Privitelio, with Neuls then completing a double overtake to leap up into third place.

Privitelio’s No. 8 Lamborghini then also dropped back into the clutches of Ojjeh, who completed the pass for the lead into Turn 1 with 12 minutes remaining.

The Privitelios eventually finished the race in seventh overall, behind the No. 79 GT3 Poland machine driven by Seweryn Mazur.

The second GT3 Poland entry, piloted by Adrian Lewandowski, took eighth while the overall top ten was rounded out by a pair of Asian entries.

Zhiwei Lu and Qikuan Cao finished ninth for Hudson Auto by LKM, while the No. 299 Climax Racing machine of Bihuang Zhou crossed the line in tenth.

The deciding Am/LB Cup race is scheduled for Sunday at 12:15 p.m. CET (6:15 a.m. ET),. Saturday’s running will continue with the opening Pro/Pro-Am race at 4:20 p.m. CET (10:20 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Am/LB Cup Race 1