24/06/2025
VIDALES/BADAWI/COLAVITA COME CLOSE TO OUTRIGHT VICTORY IN EXCITING ITALIAN GT RACE AT MONZA
David Vidales, Leonardo Colavita and Ibrahim Badawi came close to an overall win in round two of the Italian GT Endurance Championship at Monza, finishing second after three hours of action-packed racing. Their P2 overall secured a GT3 Pro Am class victory, tying them for the championship lead with Mazzola/Rauer/Cazzaniga (Tresor Attempto Audi) at 38 points.
Driving the #62 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, the trio climbed from P14: Badawi started fifth but dropped back in a tough first stint, Colavita brought it to P10, and Vidales reached P5 by mid-race.
The first hour of the race looked to be safely in the hands of the VSR Lamborghini but it was penalized for not respecting restart procedures, and the Audi Sport Italia R8 LMS, the BMW Italia M4 and the various Ferraris then came into play in the second hour.
A Full Course Yellow at the 90-minute mark stabilized the positions with the #21 Audi ahead of the #1 BMW followed by the #98, #51 and #62 Ferrari and the neutralization became a Safety Car for the next 20 minutes, but no positions were lost by Badawi, who on the restart overtook Raghunathan (Ferrari) and Gorini (Ferrari) to take P3 with one hour remaining.
Colavita then moved into second place behind Lambrughi ( #21 Audi) and ahead of Tamburini ( #98 Ferrari) and passed the #21 at the first Variante to take the lead with 38 minutes remaining, only to lose it again as they cycled through the final pitstops.
It was now Cantù ( #21 Audi) from Vidales, who was catching the leader when he was knocked off the racing line at the first Variante by Coluccio ( #98 Ferrari), who was later penalized for that unsafe manoeuvre coming out of the pitlane.
Cantù then punctured and crashed with 15 minutes remaining, leaving a ten-minute Safety Car period, after which in the final five minutes Vidales was just unable to hold off the hard-charging Michele Beretta ( #63 VSR Lamborghini), who took the win ahead of the #62. Third place went to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
The next Italian GT Endurance Championship round is at Imola on 1-3 August.