Road America Super Trofeo Weekend Notebook

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini

***Paolo Ruberti and Sandy Mitchell claimed overall poles for this weekend’s pair of Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races at Road America, in qualifying Saturday morning.

***Ruberti reeled off a 2:05.665 in his No. 27 Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo Evo to edge out the No. 46 PPM entry of Conor Daly, with championship leader Richard Antinucci set to start third for this afternoon’s opening race of the weekend. Click Here for Qualifying 1 results.

***Race 2 will see Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing driver Mitchell lead the field to the green on Sunday, thanks to a 2:05.633 late in the 15-minute qualifying session. The 19-year-old Scot pipped Ruberti’s co-driver Cedric Sbirrazzuoli by 0.159 seconds after making multiple improvements in the closing moments. Click Here for Qualifying 2 results.

***The Pro title-contending PPM team rebuilt its car overnight following an accident in final practice by Brandon Gdovic on Friday. Gdovic and Daly trail championship leaders Antinucci and Corey Lewis and by 16 points heading into this weekend’s midpoint of the season.

***A total of 19 were initially entered for Road America, although the No. 08 GMG Racing entry of Mel Johnson has been withdrawn due to travel delays for Johnson, per IMSA Radio.

***Other notable changes since the last round at Watkins Glen International include Supercross champion Chad Reed returning in a Dream Racing-entered Lamborghini, but in the LB Cup class with Justin Price. Reed was paired with Ryan Hardwick at Watkins Glen, although a knee injury has ruled Hardwick out of racing for the remainder of the year.

***Eric Curran, meanwhile, has returned to the No. 69 Prestige/WTR entry in Pro-Am alongside William Hubbell, after Paul Tracy filled in for the reigning IMSA Prototype champion at The Glen.

***The No. 53 Prestige/WTR Lamborghini, meanwhile, has been moved to the Am class with Gerry Kraut, after Bruno Junqueira and Bradley Baker co-drove the entry last time out in Pro-Am.

***Lewis and Cameron Cassels are performing double-duty this weekend, sharing their Lamborghini Super Trofeo commitments with rides in Sunday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race.

***Lewis is suiting up for his second consecutive race in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, while Cassels is driving the Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson in LMP2.

***Lewis, Mitchell and Andrea Amici, meanwhile, are coming off last weekend’s Total 24 Hours of Spa, all racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evos.

***Mitchell helped Barwell Motorsport claim Silver Cup class honors, while Amici finished fifth in the same category in his first 24-hour race in the Italian manufacturer’s GT3 offering.

“I have been dreaming to be [at Spa] for a lot of years, considering that I have been trying to do the race since 2012,” Amici told Sportscar365. “But finally, with the performance of the last years, Lamborghini and Giorgio Sanna gave me the possibility.”

***Mitchell said his Spa class win is only starting to sink in. “To take a victory in any race is an achievement, but to win one of the toughest 24-hour races in the world was something very special,” he said. “Hopefully we can finish on the top step of the podium again this weekend.”

***The 2020 schedule, released on Friday evening during IMSA’s ‘State of the Series’ address, features the first-ever street race for the series in Toronto, and only the second temporary circuit in Super Trofeo’s history worldwide.

***Super Trofeo Asia was part of the Kuala Lumpur City Grand Prix in 2015, while the North American series was due to have a race on the streets of Boston in 2016, supporting the IndyCar Series, prior to the event’s cancellation.

***Lamborghini America motorsport senior manager Chris Ward told Sportscar365 that it was an objective to secure a street race for the single-make series.

***Race 1 gets underway at 3:05 p.m. ET and Race 2 on Sunday at 11:55 a.m. ET. Both races will be streamed live on IMSA.tv, with tape-delayed broadcast on Thur. Aug. 15 at 12 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John