Three in a Row: Imperiale Racing Extends the PRO Championship Gap
In a one-make series built around identical Huracán Super Trofeo hardware, three consecutive victories should not happen easily. Yet Vito Postiglione and Jonathan Cecotto are making a habit of it. The Imperiale Racing duo took Race 1 at Paul Ricard during the third round of the 2017 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe, extending a winning streak that began with a sweep of both races at Silverstone. Before arriving in the south of France, they led Raphael Abbate and Yuki Nemoto by a single point in the PRO standings. With Abbate and Nemoto finishing only sixth under the VS Racing banner, that gap grew meaningfully.
When one crew strings together three wins in succession on equal machinery, the conversation shifts from parity to execution. Imperiale Racing is operating at a level where small advantages in driver changeovers, tire management, and on-track aggression compound into a real championship buffer. The question facing every rival team leaving Paul Ricard was no longer whether Postiglione and Cecotto were quick, but whether anyone could match their consistency before the points deficit became insurmountable.
Lap Eight: How Postiglione Broke the Race Open
Loris Spinelli, sharing the Antonelli Motorsport car with Mikaël Grenier, earned pole position in qualifying and controlled the opening laps cleanly. Postiglione sat in his mirrors throughout, close enough to apply pressure but unable to find a way past for seven laps.
The breakthrough came on lap eight. Postiglione exploited the variant section before the Signes curve, the one realistic overtaking zone on a circuit that otherwise rewards defensive positioning. Once past, he built enough of a margin to hand the car to Cecotto with breathing room. Cecotto held the lead comfortably through the second stint, converting track position into the kind of controlled finish that defines championship-caliber campaigns.
Grenier and Spinelli finished second, with GDL Racing’s Rik Breukers and Axcil Jefferies completing the podium. The new Artline Team Georgia pairing of Sergey Afanasiev and newcomer Giorgio Maggi quietly delivered a fourth-place finish, a result worth watching as the season progresses.
Class Battles: VS Racing’s Double and Van der Horst’s Repeat
While Imperiale Racing commanded the PRO class, VS Racing celebrated a strong day across the lower categories. Christopher Dreyspring and Liang Jiatong claimed their first PRO-AM victory. Jiatong called the race “very tough” but noted the result boosted his confidence in the championship fight. Kikko Galbiati retained the PRO-AM points lead despite not winning, thanks to a third-place class finish by teammate Davide Roda on the other Antonelli Motorsport entry.
In the AM category, Andrej Lewandowski and Teodor Myszkowski secured their fourth class win of the season, further stretching an already commanding advantage. Myszkowski pointed to the punishing heat at Paul Ricard as a defining factor across the weekend, a theme echoed by several drivers.
Gerard Van der Horst of Van der Horst Motorsport repeated his Silverstone Race 1 victory in the Lamborghini Cup, though he admitted the final ten minutes were grueling in the heat. When the most experienced gentleman driver on the grid says conditions pushed him to his limit, it underscores something easy to forget about one-make racing: the cars may be identical, but the physical demands are very real. That same heat shaped results across every class, thinning the field’s concentration and rewarding the crews who managed both car and driver through the worst of it.
Championship Implications: Shifting Dynamics Across the Standings
The Super Trofeo Europe series launched in 2009 with the Gallardo and has operated continuously since, making it one of the longest-running single-marque championships in the supercar segment. Its purpose is straightforward: give customer teams and aspiring professionals a competitive platform using production-derived Lamborghini hardware, and keep the brand’s motorsport credibility visible at circuits across Europe every season.
What makes the 2017 championship compelling is how tightly the classes mirror each other’s drama. In PRO, Postiglione and Cecotto now hold a meaningful but not decisive lead. In PRO-AM, Galbiati clings to the top despite a rival team taking the race win. In AM, Lewandowski and Myszkowski look increasingly difficult to catch. Each class tells a different story about the balance between consistency and outright pace, and together they illustrate why the series functions as a genuine talent filter. Drivers who perform well in Super Trofeo often progress to GT3 competition, and Lamborghini’s Squadra Corse operation pays attention. A strong Super Trofeo season is, for an aspiring professional, a visible audition.
Looking Ahead: Nemoto on Pole for Race 2
Yuki Nemoto, who finished sixth alongside Abbate in Race 1, was set to start Race 2 from pole position in the VS Racing car. After losing ground in the championship, the Japanese driver had both the grid position and the motivation to respond. Whether Imperiale Racing’s streak would reach four wins or the championship battle would tighten again depended largely on how Nemoto used that front-row advantage in the opening laps.
The takeaway from Paul Ricard Race 1 is clear enough: Postiglione and Cecotto are the crew to beat, but the margins remain small enough that a single bad pit stop or qualifying session can reshape the standings entirely. That tension is the whole point of a one-make series, and Lamborghini’s version continues to deliver on it.
Gallery
