Pulcini and Connor Primm survive late contact to prevail in second race

Sant’Agata Bolognese/Hungaroring, 23 June 2024 – Lamborghini recorded its second International GT Open victory of the season as Oregon Team’s Leonardo Pulcini and Simon Connor Primm came out on top in the second race of the weekend at the Hungaroring.

Without his full-season team-mate Rolf Ineichen, following a nasty crash at the previous round at Spa-Francorchamps, Pulcini was joined in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 by ADAC GT Masters regular Connor Primm, with the pair managing fourth place in Saturday’s opening race.

They started ninth on the grid for race two and brilliantly came through the field – thanks in part to a superb opening lap – to claim the victory, their first of the season which moves 2022 champion Pulcini up to seventh in the points standings.

Connor Primm kept out of trouble at the start of the second race and profited from a multi-car incident at the front of the field at turn one to vault four places to run fifth either side of a safety car period following another crash at the first corner.

The German driver maintained his position at the restart and was just over 10-seconds off the lead of the race approaching the mandatory driver-change pit-stop window. Connor Primm came in early in the window to swap with Pulcini, who came back out in a net third place following the stops.

Pulcini, with superior pace but in a train of cars behind second-placed Gustav Bergström’s Porsche, knew he had to get ahead, and he duly did with a superb lunge down the inside of turn one with just under seven minutes remaining. All the while, the train of cars were catching the Pro-Am Ferrari which was leading the race overall.

The Ferrari lost control and made significant contact with Pulcini’s front-end, but the Lamborghini somehow managed to keep itself pointing in the right direction. Therefore, Pulcini held onto the lead and eked out enough of a margin, 1.903s, to beat the Porsche to victory.

Success in British GT and GTWC Asia

Barwell Motorsport scored yet more valuable points in the latest round of the British GT Championship, on its annual away trip, at Spa-Francorchamps. Despite receiving a post-qualifying 10-place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement, Ricky and Rob Collard charged through the field in the two-hour race – which was red flagged early on following a heavy crash which forced barrier repairs – to finish third in the #63.

Winners of the previous round at Donington Park, the #78 crew of Sandy Mitchell and Alex Martin finished a creditable fourth place, despite having to serve a success penalty at their mandatory pit-stop.

The third round of the GT World Challenge Asia season took place at the Fuji circuit in Japan, with VS Racing’s Bian Ye and Edoardo Liberati demonstrating the strong form shown this season by taking second place in the first of the one-hour encounters. Joining them on the podiuym was the sister VS Racing Huracán of Bihuang Zhou and Marco Mapelli, who finished third.