The Italian GT Sprint Championship will restart its action in Tuscany for the third round in programme this year

Mattia Bucci went on holidays after his extraordinary third place finish in Race 2 achieved in the Imola round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship in the GT Cup class. The Abruzzese ace is ready to hit the legendary Mugello Circuit from August 23rd to the 25th with his teammate Filippo Croccolino, driving the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo by Best Lap racing team for the penultimate round of the racing series organized by ACI Sport.

After the Imola round, Mattia went in Tuscany for a brief test session which consisted in a try out of the racetrack characteristics. As the permanent home of the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix and having hosted the first and only edition of the Formula 1 Tuscan Grand Prix in 2020, Mugello is a track full of pitfalls: located between the hills, it has 15 turns for a total distance of 5245 metres.

The weekend programme consists in two Free Practice sessions on Friday (11:45 am and 6:05 pm respectively), two Qualifying sessions (10:10 and 10:35 am) and Race 1 at 5:30 pm on Saturday and Race 2 at 12:40 pm on Sunday.

Mattia Bucci: “Finally it’s race week! I’ll be back on track after summer break for the third round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship. I’m very happy and excited and i can’t wait to get back in the car to improve and confirm what we achieved in Imola. I’m sure that with the right working method we can do great things. My goal is to learn as much as possible and to gain lot of experience for the future, because this is a quite unknown racetrack for myself. We have a lot to do, but we can minimize the problems following the right work path. I want to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Managament, the Best Lap racing team, my family, my staff, my personal trainer Walter Marini and his whole team and all my sponsors for their support.”

The races will be broadcast on ACI Sport TV (channel 228 of Sky Italy) and on both the “Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo” Facebook and Youtube channels.

PHOTO CREDITS: Foto Speedy

Matteo Gaudieri
Mattia Bucci’s Press Office

Il fine settimana Porsche Carrera Cup Italia ha visto Nicholas Pujatti chiudere in grande crescita e in top five tra i rookie.

Un buon fine settimana quello portato a termine dal pilota del team Villorba Corsa, seppur mai facile su un tracciato come quello toscano, ricco di insidie e con pochi punti per il sorpasso.

Dopo le prove libere-test, lo studio dei track limits e del set-up con la propria squadra, Nicholas si è concentrato al massimo sulle sessioni cronometrate, chiudendo in zona Top Ten ed evidenziato fin da subito un buon passo gara.

Sessione di qualifica unica come sempre molto tirata a caccia del giro pulito. P19 assoluta per il pilota numero #46 chiamato alla rimonta nella prima gara di sabato pomeriggio.
In Gara 1 purtroppo un contatto causato da un avversario nei primi passaggi, ha costretto Nicholas a perdere alcune posizioni al via.
Recupero giro dopo giro sancito dalla P20 finale ad ogni modo positiva considerando l’inizio della gara.

Gara 2 decisamente diversa con una partenza regolare e fuori dai guai che ha permesso al pilota Villorba Corse di poter spingere da subito e dimostrare il proprio passo gara. Tempi sul giro che lo avrebbero portato in lotta per le prime dieci piazze, hanno consentito di recuperare posizioni chiudendo in P17 e soprattutto in P5 nella classifica Rookie.

N.Pujatti: “E’ stato un weekend davvero molto combattuto. Guidare la 992 GT3 qui al Mugello è stato emozionante e voglio ringraziare tutto lo staff Villorba Corse per avermi messo nelle migliori condizioni. Ringrazio il mio management Minardi Management, tutta la mia famiglia e ovviamente i miei sponsor per il grande supporto!”.

Appuntamento per il primo fine settimana di settembre (6-8 settembre) per il quarto round stagionale sull’Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola.

RISULTATI COMPLETI

Ufficio Stampa Nicholas Pujatti
Petrolhead Communication
Foto: G.Benfanti

The Imola round in the Italian GT Sprint Championship handed to the Catignano ace his first trophy in GT Cup

Mattia Bucci’s debut at the “Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola” in the Italian GT Sprint Championship was one to remember. The young Abruzzese talent from the Best Lap team, together with his teammate Filippo Croccolino, managed to climb onto the bottom step of the podium at the end of a weekend marked by highs and lows.

Free Practices on Friday were immediately hampered by both mechanical anomalies and difficult weather conditions, which brought the work program to an abrupt halt. On Saturday, however, the high frequency of interruptions caused by red flags and Full Course Yellows prevented the crew of car no. 178 from improving their times, relegating Croccolino to 21st place and Bucci to 19th at the end of Q1 and Q2 respectively. Race 1 continued the negative trend, marking the second retirement of the championship due to technical problems.

Race 2 was a completely different story: at the start, Bucci immediately made his mark by gaining five positions before the safety car was brought out to clear up some cars involved in an incident. The comeback continued over the laps thanks to some overtaking before the pit stop, which was decisive for the climb: the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo was parked on the pit lane apron by the Catignano racing driver in tenth position and was taken over by Croccolino in fifth, a testament to the excellent work done by the drivers in the laps before and after the stop. The top five was then confirmed under the checkered flag and then turned into a podium finish thanks to some penalties handed out by the Stewards. It is worth noting their extraordinary driving performance: both drivers overtook no less than sixteen cars to claim the bronze medal, especially considering the high difficulty of overtaking at the Imola circuit.

Mattia Bucci: “I’m really happy with the result we achieved at Imola, we deserved it after the technical problems we had. Despite everything, I always stayed positive and never gave up, me and my teammate pushed each other and I think that was the winning key that made all this possible. I’m truly speechless, I expected anything but the podium! I hope it’s just the first of many, now let’s get back to work to try to progress and further improve the result. I would like to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Management, the Best Lap team, my teammate Filippo Croccolino, my family, my staff, my trainer Walter Marini and his team and all my sponsors for their incredible support.”

Matteo Gaudieri
Mattia Bucci’s Press Office

The Abruzzese racing driver will officially return to competition making his absolute debut with the Grand Touring world

After an intensive testing program with the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of the Best Lap team, Mattia Bucci has been officially announced as a driver for the Roman racing team to face the Italian Gran Turismo Sprint Championship of ACI Sport with the Prancing Horse car. The ace from Catignanowill be in partnership with Filippo Croccolino, a Tuscan driver with previous experiences in closed-wheel competitions; he was Mattia’s teammate back in their kart journey.

The various track outings between Vallelunga and Misano were an appetizer of the programme that Bucci will face in this sporting season. The category in which he and his partner Croccolino will compete is the GT Cup class.

This is the calendar:
– Round 1, Misano: from May 3rd to the 5th;
– Round 2, Imola: from May 30th to June 2nd
– Round 3, Mugello: from August 23rd to the 25th;
– Round 4, Monza: from October 4th to the 6th.

The young Abruzzese talent’s last race was during the Misano weekend of the “FX Pro Series” of the “Formula X Italian Series”, a round that ended with victory in Race 2.

Mattia Bucci: “I am thrilled and honored to be participating in the 2024 Italian Gran Turismo Championship. This is a competition that boasts truly significant names in motorsport. I am confident that Filippo and I can achieve great results with sacrifice and dedication. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel. I would like to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Management, the Best Lap team for this incredible opportunity, my family, my staff, my trainer Walter Marini and his team, and all my sponsors for their unwavering support.”

Giovanni Minardi, Minardi Management: “I am delighted that we have reached an agreement with Best Lap to participate in the Italian Gran Turismo Sprint Championship. Finally, after two years of challenges, we have found the right formula to compete in a major championship and make the switch from open-wheel to closed-wheel racing, where I think and believe Mattia has a great chance of achieving excellent results. I hope the championship can start well right away at Misano. Mattia was very strong in testing, so there are good chances of doing well. I wish Mattia and the team the best of luck in doing well right from the start. I believe this is the right year for Mattia to really show his worth.”

Matteo Gaudieri
Press Office Mattia Bucci