The third round of 2016 Blancpain Endurance Series could be so marked by the first podium of the season for Michele Beretta, Andrea Piccini and Luca Stolz, ever so competitive this year at the wheel of Grasser Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3: the trio have been stable in the Top 10 since the free practice sessions in Paul Ricard, finding a good setup that allowed them to be the best Lamborghini on track. After an excellent start by Andrea Piccini from the eight place, the expert italian driver got some positions keeping the fourth place for the whole stint; at the driver change, Michele Beretta replaced Piccini gaining valuable time thanks to a perfect pit stop, which allowed the young driver from Lecco to return on track as second; in the central part of the race Beretta was forced to give up two positions to the sudden deterioration of tires; the last part saw Luca Stolz in the car for the last two final hours race with a podium finish still possible. But during the last pit stop, an electrical problem broken any attempts of Grasser Racing trio, with the green italian supercar unable to restart from the pitlane.
Michele Beretta: “Unfortunately we go home with 0 points. What a shame, because for the first time since the beginning of the season we were fighting for the overall podium, with a perfect car in our hands. Andrea did a great first stint and I was able to handle very well the tires in the first part of mine, without having to change those climbing up to the second place. Unfortunately since the contact with the Ferrari the car was no more in the best conditions until the pit-stop, where it didn’t switch on again. The work done was undoubtedly positive and this is good thinking about Spa-Francorchamps for the 24 hours race, but we missed a great opportunity for sure.”
Andrea Piccini: “It’s a shame to don’t be able to finalize the excellent work done by the team since the beginning of the weekend; surely we could fight for the podium, the third place was within our reach. It remains the consciousness to have worked well to stay on top. Our chance will arrive soon.“