AutoItalia – July 2019

(Marcin) #1

NEWS


WINCHESTER CONCORSO SEEKS CARS
Hampshire-based Winchester College is looking for entries to its Concorso
d'Eleganza Passione d'Italia, a motoring event run by the college’s Car Society, on 15
June 2019. Examples from the following marques are being sought: Alfa Romeo,
Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lancia, Maserati and Pagani, with the event aiming to
raise money for charities. For more information, email [email protected]

CHOPARD’S ZAGATO MM TRIBUTE
Chopard has launched a new Mille Miglia Classic
Chronograph Zagato 100th Anniversary Edition watch.
It featues a dial with a motif resembling Zagato’s ‘Z’
logo at the 12 o’clock position. A limited edition of 100
pieces, the price is £5560.

T


he 2019 British GT campaign got off to a flying start at Oulton Park
in Cheshire over the Easter weekend. Oulton Park’s short straights
favour the corner-exiting grunt of cars like the GT3 Bentley
Continental but Barwell Motorsport’s Lamborghinis have always done
well at Oulton.
In the first of two races, Barwell’s Adam Balon and Phil Keen finished
second, despite the latter’s best efforts to reel in the leading Bentley,
with Sam De Haan and Jonny Cocker just missing out on a podium in
fourth. In race two, De Haan prevailed during a frenetic final 10 minutes
to claim victory with co-driver Cocker. The Lamborghini swept around
the outside as the leading Mercedes-AMG ran wide, before bolting to a
two-second victory. Balon and Keen claimed fourth.
This was De Haan’s maiden British GT victory and Cocker’s first since
2007 (at Thruxton). Adam Balon, who has only just stepped up to GT3,
sits second in the points table, leaving Barwell Motorsport top of the
Teams’ Championship standings with a healthy lead. De Haan’s
performance over both races resulted in him being awarded the
Blancpain Driver of the Weekend, while Keen won the Fastest Lap
Trophy.
Barwell Motorsport may not have it all their own way, as WPI
Motorsport drivers Michael Igoe and Adam Wilcox graduated to British
GT’s senior class from Round 2 at Snetterton, having switched from
their GTC-spec Porsche 911 to the new-for-2019 Lamborghini Huracán
GT3. WPI always regarded its GTC entry as a path towards a full-blown
GT3 effort, something that happened in Norfolk in May when they
become 2019’s 15th full-season GT3 class entry. Italian car fans now
have Lamborghinis in three different red, green and yellow liveries to
support for the rest of the British GT Championship season.

HURACÁN GT3 EVOS TAKE LEAD


STELVIO QV SETS SUV LAP RECORDS


Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio Quadrifoglio has set new SUV lap records at three UK circuits.
The unmodified 510hp Quadrifoglio, clocked inaugural lap times for an SUV around
Brands Hatch Indy Circuit, Donington Park and Silverstone National Circuit.
Driver David Brise recorded 55.9s at Brands Hatch, 1m21.1s at Donington Park and
2m31.6s at Silverstone. Its follows 2017’s SUV record at the Nürburgring circuit – at
7m51.7s, a full eight seconds faster than the previous production SUV record.
Brise said: “The performance from this family SUV is astonishing, its handling
characteristics were really confidence inspiring and totally at home on track.
It gave me all the things I needed to extract the best possible lap times and
establish the three records.”


By Mike Rysiecki
Photos by Leigh Jones
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