Trinka Holds Off Persing for Friday Win at Road America

Photo: Jamey Price/Lamborghini

XONINE Racing’s Will Bamber and Darius Trinka claimed victory in the first Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race of the weekend at Road America, thanks to an overcut strategy by the Lithuanian squad.

Trinka took his No. 33 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 to a 0.774-second win over the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing entry of Nick Persing following a late-race battle between the two drivers.

While having started on pole, Bamber led the opening five laps before getting passed by defending champion Hampus Ericsson, who held command until the mid-race pit stop and driver changes.

However, Trinka emerged in the lead ahead of Persing and managed to hold off the WTR driver for the win.

While it marked Bamber’s fourth victory of the season, it was Trinka’s second after the two shared top honors in the second race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in May.

It came in the Chicago-area team’s home race.

Pro class championship leader Elias De La Torre completed the overall and Pro class podium in the No. 29 TR3 Racing entry that he shared with the returning Dennis Lind.

It came after De La Torre made a late-race pass, not for class position, on the No. 10 WTR Lamborghini of Graham Doyle, who along with co-driver Danny Formal, continued their undefeated streak in Pro-Am with their seventh win of the season with a sixth place finish overall.

The No. 2 RAFA Racing Team Lamborghini of Kiko Porto and Tyler Gonzalez was fourth overall, followed by Giano Taurino’s No. 88 entry, which completed the overall top-five.

Am class honors went to the No. 89 89x Motorsports entry of Mike Fitzpatrick and Johan Schwartz, while Forty7 Motorsports driver Chris Tasca picked up the win in LB Cup.

The race ran caution-free although still had its share of incidents.

It included a three-car accident in Turn 1 on the second lap, which left the No. 57 XONINE Lamborghini of Nick Groat in the gravel trap and the sister No. 12 entry of Anthony Bullock handed a stop-and-hold plus 30-second penalty for incident responsibility.

Bullock, who provisionally claimed Am class poles for both races, was forced to start from the rear of the field due to a technical infringement, and will also have to in tomorrow’s race.

XONINE’s LB Cup entry of Troy Petersen suffered an off in Turn 5 moments later, although it also didn’t result in a yellow.

The No. 4 ANSA Motorsports entry of Tommi Gore, meanwhile, had an off-course excursion in Turn 14 with just over ten minutes remaining.

The second and final Super Trofeo race of the weekend is set for Saturday at 5 p.m. CST with live coverage on Peacock as well as Lamborghini Squadra Corse and IMSA’s YouTube channels.

RESULTS: Race 1

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