Piquet Jr. Happy With Grand Finals Title in “Last Minute” Deal

Newly crowned Lamborghini Grand Finals champion Nelson Piquet Jr. exclaimed that his victory in Lamborghini’s end-of-season event was “unexpected” because of the late nature of ANSA Motorsports’ entry into the event.

The Brazilian secured the championship title by finishing second on Saturday before winning on Sunday, which ensured he remained ahead of Bonaldi Motorsport pairing Max Weering and Loris Spinelli.

Piquet Jr. had been absent from the previous Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America round at Virginia International Raceway and told Sportscar365 that it wasn’t originally planned for him to travel to Portugal with the Alain Nadal-led operation.

“It was unexpected,” Piquet Jr. said of his title triumph.

“It wasn’t something that we were planning to do, so it was a last-minute call. It wasn’t something we planned to come and win.

“Obviously, we wanted to win it but because it was a last-minute deal, we didn’t really know what to expect. Happy for how it turned out.”

Spinelli and Weering were set to be Piquet Jr’s main competition for the title. The duo had beaten the ex-F1 racer to victory in the first race on Saturday, with Spinelli in particular showing strong pace all weekend.

However, with Weering starting 15th and making relatively slow progress through the opening half, Spinelli had significant ground to cover in the hopes of keeping Piquet Jr. from the title.

For his part, Piquet Jr. knew going in that Spinelli was unlikely to be a factor.

“I knew he was going to be quick, but unless there was several safety cars and he got really lucky, then he would have caught us,” he noted.

“He was definitely the quickest driver, but starting from the position he was, it was impossible for him catch us, luckily for me.”

Instead, the main challenge for victory in the closing race of the weekend came from the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini of Danny Formal, who applied pressure during the second stint but ultimately came up short.

“Piquet Jr. had great pace and a great first stint,” said Formal.

“He got a nice gap, I came out of the pits 3.5 seconds behind and then I wanted it so bad.

“I came up to him to half a second, maybe six tenths as soon as I got to that I was in the dirty air.

“I was already on my limit with track limits. If I did another track limits, we would have gotten a five second penalty so I really had to be careful.

“But the pace was amazing, Kyle [Marcelli] gave me a great car. Rear tires have been a struggle for everyone here and he tried to take care of them for me so I could push at the end of the stint.”

Ward Happy With “Great Week” for Super Trofeo Series

Teams from the North America series walked away with half of the available championships during the Grand Finals, with Piquet Jr. capturing the Pro title while Sebastian Carazo and Bryan Ortiz took Pro-Am honors.

Chris Ward, Lamborghini America’s Senior Manager of Motorsport, expressed his contentment over the U.S. presence at the event, proclaiming the championship success “a huge honor.”

“Of course, very happy,” Ward told Sportscar365. “It has been a great week for Lamborghini Super Trofeo, period.

“I think to have 70 cars here, the level of competition seems to get higher and higher in every category every year. I think this has been the most competitive year of all classes.

“For the North America championship to be going home with the Pro and Pro-Am titles of course is a huge honor.

“[We] just missed out on the LB Cup championship, but a terrific weekend for Lamborghini Squadra Corse and the Super Trofeo championship.

“[I’m] delighted for Alain Nadal at ANSA Motorsports; you won’t meet a more passionate team owner in the North America paddock and of course it a huge privilege to be racing with Nelson Piquet Jr.”

Ward also reckoned that the American teams’ strong performance on the unfamiliar Portimao circuit can be explained by its characteristics.

“This circuit I think of all the Grand Finals we’ve done is the closest to a North American-style circuit,” he said.

“Some of us were joking its like Watkins Glen and VIR got together and had an illegitimate child. It’s a real hybrid and a great leveler for both series.”