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

Misano Adriatico will host the first ACI Racing Weekend of the Italian motorsport season

Mattia Bucci’s 2023 season ended with a victory at the “Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli” in the “FX Pro Series” of the “Formula X Italian Series”. The ace from Catignano will return to action in the racetrack located in Romagna making his debut in the Italian GT Sprint Championship from May 3rd to 5th with some news: a new team, Best Lap, and a new car, the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, which mark Mattia’s switch from Formula single-seaters to Grand Touring competition.

The work done in the recent test programs leading up to the event was more than sufficient and satisfactory to prepare Bucci for this new challenge, which won’t be faced alone as the logic of the championship dictates: Filippo Croccolino, a driver from Siena, will share the cockpit with the young Abruzzese talent and will make his year of experience available in a context as important as the series organized by ACI Sport. The two drivers were teammates during their karting days and they will compete in the GT Cup category in the Pro-Am class.

This is the race weekend schedule:
– Friday: FP1 (GT3 & GT Cup) at 10:45 am, FP2 at 3:55 pm;
– Saturday: Q1 at 9:30 am, Q2 at 9:55 am, Race 1 at 6:45 pm;
– Sunday: Race 2 at 4:00 pm.

The races will be broadcast on both ACI Sport TV (channel 224 on Sky and channel 402 on DTT) and on the Facebook page and Youtube channel “Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo”.

Mattia Bucci: “Finally the wait is over, it’s race week! I’m very happy and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel for the first round of the Italian GT Championship at Misano, a track that is very dear to me. I’m happy to be able to share this fantastic experience with Filippo Croccolino after our karting days: to have him as my teammate again is a great pleasure. I’m very excited and I can’t wait for Friday for the first Free Practice sessions. I would like to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Management, the Best Lap team, my family, my staff, my trainer Walter Marini and his team and all the sponsors for their support.”

Matteo Gaudieri
Mattia Bucci’s Press Office

At Misano, the Abruzzese driver’s accreditation for closed-wheel competitions was consummated

With the last test carried out at the “Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli”, Mattia Bucci officially joined the ranks of GT racing licensed drivers thanks to obtaining his license. The Catignano ace was able to rely once again on the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo and the technical support from Best Lap, the team that owns the car.

Despite some technical issues and unpredictable weather conditions, the test day was positive, allowing Bucci to learn how to manage a car that is still new to him in such unique conditions, with intermittent rain and strong winds affecting the Ferrari’s aerodynamics.

Rino Mastronardi was at Misano as an examiner on behalf of ACI Sport. He is an Instructor at the Federal School of the Automobile Club and a driver who won the European Le Mans Series championship in 2021 with Iron Lynx and achieved a GTE-Am class podium in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same year with the Italian team.

Mattia Bucci: “I am very happy both to have obtained the license to race with GT cars and for the results of this test, as we have experimented all of weather conditions. I am very satisfied with how we are training; now we must continue to train and push ourselves to the maximum to improve the results achieved so far. I want to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Management, the Best Lap team, my family, my staff, my trainer Walter Marini and his team, and all my sponsors for their support.”

Giovanni Minardi, Minardi Management: “Even today Mattia has been good, he made no mistakes and recorded good lap times despite the bizarre weather with rain and sun. It was a very positive test enhanced by obtaining the license, which is very important to be ready for the upcoming news that I hope to announce soon. He is working very well, making progress every time he gets in the car, so we are optimistic for the season ahead.”

Rino Mastronardi, Instructor at the ACI Sport Federal School: “Today I was on the track to evaluate Mattia’s driving skills who, despite the bad weather conditions with cold and rain, did not make any mistakes. He was very skilled and fast with very good times. At the end of the day, with great pleasure, I issued him the authorization to pass to a higher level license.”

Matteo Gaudieri
Press Office Mattia Bucci