The 6 Hours of Le Castellet is not a race to remember for Andrea Piccini, Michele Beretta and Stefano Gattuso due to a pucture that put out their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in the third round Blancpain Endurance Series GT Cup.
After a qualifying ended with the 51st time in the grid, Andrea Piccini had a very careful start to avoid unnecessary hazards in the first corners, and then began pushing in by ringing thirteen overtaking in the first 45 mins of the race. Taking advantage of the safety car’s entry, the team anticipated the first pit-stop earning eight more places up to 19th. With four hours and twenty minutes to go, reaching the point area seemed a concrete target thanks to very good race pace, but the bad luck was again to mark the race of Ombra Racing team: at the end of Mistral, the explosion of rear right forced Gattuso to slow down till the pitlane. The damage suffered by #12 Lamborghini was bigger than initially estimated: the tire explosion had sliced ABS wiring, ripped off the engine air intake as well as several sensors, forcing the crew to retire the car.
Michele Beretta: “What can I say? Unfortunately in the race I did not seat in the car. The damage reported by our Lamborghini was too important to think we could continue. Really a shame because, besides depriving us of probable points for the championship, this episode did not allow us to try some solutions for the incoming Spa 24 Hours race, the most important event of the season.”
Andrea Piccini: “The qualify was below our potential and expectations. The begin of the race was much better, we were fast, not the first, but enough to pick up the first points. It was a shame because this retire deprived us of a great potential result, but also any chance to try something focused on Spa 24 Hours.“