Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe - Stadsbader/Michelotto take third 2023 win at Nürburgring

2023-07-29

Gilles Stadsbader and Mattia Michelotto (VS Racing) claimed their third Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe victory of the season in the opening 50-minute race at the Nürburgring, while 17-year-old Ibrahim Badawy created history by becoming the first Egyptian ever to win a race in the one-make series in the Am category. Stadsbader and Michelotto moved back into the lead of the Pro standings after qualifying, with Michelotto taking the additional point for pole position and duly converted that into a lights-to-flag performance, fending off a charging Brendon Leitch (Leipert Motorsport) at the finish. Target Racing’s Frederik Schandorff and Alex Au came out on top in an entertaining Pro-Am race as Bonaldi Motorsport’s Paolo Biglieri and Petar Matić prevailed in the Lamborghini Cup class.

Off the rolling start, Michelotto maintained his lead as Pro-Am polesitter Schandorff defended heavily from BDR Competition’s Amaury Bonduel to keep second place as the field filtered through the opening couple of turns. Behind, Edoardo Liberati (Brutal Fish Racing) moved up a position to fourth while Leitch got ahead of Target Racing’s Largim Ali. New to the Pro category for the pair of races this weekend – with team-mate Dilantha Malagamuwa unwell – was Japanese-British driver Dougie Bolger. The teenager had to serve a regulation drivethrough penalty inside the first three laps due to changing categories but made the finish in 22nd position at the flag. Michelotto tried to make quick his escape at the top of the order but the #6 Huracán was chased hard by Schandorff who tried to open as big a margin in the Pro-Am lead as possible for team-mate Au by the time the pit window closed. Bonduel, the closest Pro challenger before the pit-stops, struggled early on in his BDR Competition Huracán and fell behind the Pro-Am entry of Liberati at turn one. From seventh on the grid, Leitch made progress in the early going, working his way past the CMR entry of Loris Cabirou for fifth before coming into the pits to serve his mandatory stop. The New Zealander then came out in clear air and put in a series of quick laps to leapfrog Bonduel for second in the Pro class and begin his chase of Stadsbader, who took over from Michelotto. Leitch brought the margin down to under six seconds, but a mistake a turn four costs him around four seconds and, despite passing Au for second overall, came up just short at the finish. Bonduel held on for the final step on the podium in third, with Ali and Oliver Söderström taking a fine fourth place ahead of the recovering Marzio Moretti and Sebastian Balthasar (#61 Oregon Team) who finished sixth overall and fifth in Pro. At the bottom end of the top 10, Rebelleo Motorsport’s Daan Arrow and Abbie Eaton were eighth, while Leipert Motorsport’s Yury Wagner and Patrik Matthiesen celebrated their best finish of the 2023 season, with ninth place.

Behind Schandorff and Au, the battle for the Pro-Am podium was as intense as it has been all season, with multiple crews in the mix. Martin Ryba took over from Liberati at the pit-stops and initially kept the #81 Target Racing car in his sights before dropping back into the clutches of the Micánek Motorsport entry of Bronislav Formánek (who had taken over from Karol Basz). The pair brought with them the Iron Lynx car of Nigel Schoonderwoerd and Yelmer Buurman but the scrap came to a head with contact at the chicane in the closing stages. Formánek was judged to have been responsible and was handed a 10-second penalty for the collision which sent Schoonderwoerd into the back of Ryba, who in turn hit the front right-hand corner of the Micánek car. Schoonderwoerd and Buurman therefore finished second in class, with the sister Iron Lynx example of Emanuele Zonzini and Emanuel Colombini staving off a fierce challenge from Loris Spinelli and Andrzej Lewandowski (VS Racing) to claim third at the line.

History was made in the Am class as Lamborghini Roma by DL Racing’s Ibrahim Badawy became the first Egyptian driver to win a race in Super Trofeo. The teenager, in his first season of racing, assumed the lead of the category in the second half of the race, as points leader Gabriel Rindone (Leipert Motorsport) was delayed by Iron Lynx’s Marc Rostan (taking over from the early leader Claude-Yves Gosselin) who spun out of the lead at the chicane. The #4 car got going again but not for long, eventually retiring. Rindone then resumed his assault on the lead, but slowed exiting turn four, giving Badawy the impetus to stretch away for a well-deserved victory. Hamstrung, Rindone did make it to the finish but off the podium in fourth, handing GT3 Poland’s Grzegorz Moczulski a fine second place with Boutsen VDS’s Renaud Kuppens and Pierre Feligioni third.

Mattia Michelotto

“We only missed the fastest lap to take it all. Apart from a bit of initial understeer that then turned into oversteer, everything went quite well. Even Gilles did a great job, considering that it was his first time here at the Nürburgring. Now we are also first in the points, and tomorrow there is another race to compete in.”

Team-mate Gilles Stadsbader

“This was a really good for us, we managed to extend our lead in the championship which is the main thing. And now we have to try and maximise the weekend tomorrow from P15. I had to push as hard as possible, because Brendon was coming quite fast, and the tyre degradation was not so easy in the last laps. I saw Brendon in my mirrors, but I was far enough ahead thankfully.”