CMR Pro-Am Pairing Victorious in Paul Ricard Opener

 

CMR’s Pro-Am pairing of Georgi Dimitrov and Stephane Guerin took overall victory in the opening race of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe season at Paul Ricard, while Enzo Geraci won for Oregon Team after a charging drive in Race 2.

Mixed conditions across the pair of 50-minute contests, which ran as part of the support bill for the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup opener, delivered different winners in each race.

During Race 1 on Saturday, a ten-second penalty for Leipert Motorsport pairing Sylas Ritter and Anthony Pretorius resulted in overall victory for the No. 13 CMR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which was entered in Pro-Am.

Taking the start, Dimitrov stormed into the lead by moving from third to first in the opening exchanges and then remained there long enough for Bronze-rated co-driver Guerin to take over the car at the head of the field.

However, the Frenchman soon found himself in the crosshairs of a storming No. 99 Leipert machine in the hands of Ritter, who passed Guerin after the third and final safety car restart.

However, despite crossing the line first, Ritter and co-driver Anthony Pretorius were classified third after receiving a ten-second penalty for overtaking outside track limits at the start.

As a result, Guerin and Dimitrov were declared overall winners and also picked up the Pro-Am win while the No. 9 Target Racing Lamborghini driven by Patrik Fraboni and Giacomo Pedrini moved up to second and was declared the Pro classwinner.

Adrian Lewandowski captured the Am victory aboard the No. 5 GT3 Poland Lamborghini by narrowly defeating ART-Line’s Shota Abkhazava while Karim Ojjeh took victory in LB Cup.

The second race on Sunday, which took place under rainy conditions, also saw a Pro-Am car leading the opening phase as Milos Pavlovic controlled the first half from pole in the No. 33 ASR Lamborghini.

The weather conditions resulted in diverging strategies regarding the choice of tires.

Notably, Leipert Motorsport initially appeared to opt to have the No. 99 Lamborghini start from slicks before Rytter gave up his second place on the grid to pit for wets at the end of the formation lap.

Out front, Pavlovic opened up a gap of ten second by the time the pit window opened before Alessio Ruffini took over.

Ruffini was subsequently quickly overhauled by the Pro-entered No. 10 Target Racing Lamborghini driven by Guido Luchetti, who quickly took the lead.

From there, Luchetti appeared on course for victory until, in the final minutes of the race, the Italian was overhauled by a charging Geraci.

The Frenchman, piloting the No. 36 Oregon Team Lamborghini, rapidly chipped away at the lead gap and completed a pass for the lead, going on to win by a margin of 4.442 seconds.

Luchetti, who was driving solo, finished second, with Benedetto Strignano completing the overall podium at the wheel of the No. 15 Rexal Villorba Corse Lamborghini.

Guerin and Dimitrov completed a Pro-Am sweep in fifth overall, one place behind Jerzy Spinkiewicz in the No. 25 UNIQ Racing Lamborghini.

In the Am class, a late charge from Stephane Tribaudini saw him overhaul Lewandowski and Abkhazava in the No. 66 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini to win alongside Piergiacomo Randazzo.

LB Cup was won by the No. 14 Oregon Team Lamborghini driven by Adalberto Baptista.

RESULTS: Race 1/Race 2