The first race of the Lamborghini World Finals held this afternoon at the Angel Nieto Circuit in Jerez de la Frontera and dedicated to the Pro/Pro-AM classes, provided endless twists and turns right from the very first corner.
Many protagonists were expected but they dropped out, mainly due to accidents, in an uncertain race from lap 1 to the final corner before the chequered flag.
The first major surprise occurred shortly after the start in turn 1, when Danny Formal (Wayne Taylor Racing), attempting to defend himself from Hampus Eriksson, braked late and crashed into Amaury Bonduel, who had started from pole position. After the contact, the French driver remained beached in the gravel run-off of Turn 1 and was forced to retire.
The Race Direction therefore immediately brought in the Safety Car to allow the course marshals to move Bonduel’s Huracan. On lap 2 the race resumed with Eriksson ahead of Andy Lee and Danny Formal. The latter, however, was put under investigation for the manoeuvre that took Bonduel out of the race.
On lap 4 Formal passed Lee and was back in second place, but 2 seconds behind the race leader. On lap 7 Lee lost another position, this time to Georgi Dimitrov (Iron Lynx), dropping to fourth place, but also comfortably first in Pro-Am.
Loris Cabirou, taking advantage of Lee’s difficulties, passed him in turn 1 at the start of lap 9. The Frenchman from the ANSA Motorsport team thus moved up to fourth, while the Flying Lizards Motorsports driver ended up in the sights of Giorgio Amati (Iron Lynx) and Andrea Frassineti, his direct rival for the victory in Pro-Am.
Meanwhile, Eriksson managed to maintain his advantage over Formal at just over 2 seconds, until the pit window opened and the waltz of stops began.
On lap 16, there was another twist of fate when Andrea Frassineti ended up off the track after trying to overtake Jesse Salmenautio (Iron Lynx), getting stuck in the gravel. For the VSR team driver, it was the end of his dreams of glory, considering how close he was to taking the lead in the Pro-Am class.
Once the pit lane closed, Eriksson again found himself in the lead of the race, but with a margin of just 1.1 seconds over Edgar Maloigne’s #43 Huracan and the #101 of Ryan Norman, Formal’s teammate.
A few moments later the Safety Car made its second appearance on the track due to Frassineti’s car getting stuck in the gravel at turn 11.
Stewart, Lee’s teammate, inherited sixth place overall and first in the Pro-Am class, with a huge advantage over his closest rivals: Pietro Perolini and Claude-Yves Gosselin, 21st and 22nd respectively.
Perolini, however, saw all his hopes of a podium dashed, when a few moments before the restart he was penalized with a drive-through. The race then restarted on lap 18, with Eriksson having to defend himself from Maloigne and Norman.
It was a terrible restart for Stewart, who in just a few corners lost 4 positions after being overtaken by Salmenautio, Soderstrom, Taurino and Bostandjiev, dropping to tenth place. But the American’s descent was
not over, because Francisco Porto and Jerzy Spinkiewicz also took advantage, passing the driver of the Flying Lizards Motorsports team, who was clearly in difficulty.
On lap 19, Stewart was involved in a multiple contact, which also caught out Paul Levet and Benedetto Strignano. This forced the Race Direction to send the Safety Car out on the track for the third time, while Eriksson was busy defending himself from the attacks of Maloigne and Norman for the first position.
This contact also revolutionized the Pro-Am standings, with Brendon Leitch sensationally in the lead ahead of Slade Stewart and Nicholas Persing.
On lap 22, the race restarted with 5 minutes of the total 50 to go. Eriksson powered away again well, keeping Maloigne behind him. Bryson Morris, on the other hand, passed Ryan Norman a few corners after the restart and moved up to third place.
Eriksson, thanks to the last few laps in which he kept an excellent pace, took home the victory in the Pro category ahead of Maloigne and Morris. Leitch, instead, surprisingly won in Pro-Am ahead of Nicholas Persing and Milos Pavlovic.
