Imperiale Racing in the Italian GT Sprint Championship with Frassineti-Ghiotto and Cazzaniga-Llarena 28.04.2021: Imperiale Racing not only confirmed its presence in the Italian GT Sprint Championship, but also doubled it. Two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo will be fielded in fact this year with the official Lamborghini numbering: the #63 car will be driven by Alex Fras

Imperiale Racing not only confirmed its presence in the Italian GT Sprint Championship, but also doubled it. Two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo will be fielded in fact this year with the official Lamborghini numbering: the #63 car will be driven by Alex Frassineti (ITA) and Luca Ghiotto (ITA) and the #19 by Riccardo Cazzaniga (ITA) and Mateo Llarena (GUA).



Alex Frassineti, class 1987, has been crowned Italian Champion in the spectacular CIGT 2017 season when he secured four wins and four pole positions. He made his debut in single-seaters at the beginning of the 2000s ending third in the Formula Renault Monza in 2004 and third in the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 2006. Today he is an expert on GT cars that he has been racing since 2007.


Among his very many prestigious results, he was third in the FIA GT3 European Championship 2007 at the debut, and third in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2010. He contested a very exciting 2018 season in which he was fourth in the Silver Cup at the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, won the Total 24 Hours of Spa in Silver Cup and got on the podium in his only race in International GT Open in Silverstone.




Alex Frassineti joined Imperiale Racing in 2019 and came third in the Italian GT Endurance Championship. This is going to be the third season with the Mirandola-based team.



Luca Ghiotto, 26 years last February 24th will be at the debut in a complete GT program after a short but intense experience on closed wheel racing in 2020 at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour. His career started with karting in 2008, he won the Champions Cup KF3, before moving to formula cars where he came second in the Formula Abarth European Series and in the Italian Formula Abarth Championship in 2021 and then won the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps in 2013.



These results allowed him to compete in GP3 in 2015. He ended the season in second place, just 8 points short of the leader before becoming a great protagonist of GP2 – that became Formula 2 in 2017. He was third overall in 2019.



Riccardo Cazzaniga, class 1997, has competed in two editions of the Italian GT Championship. In 2017 he was second in Super GT Cup behind the wheel of a Lamborghini and secured three pole positions, two fastest laps of the race, six wins and a third place.

In 2019 and 2020 he competed in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo run by LP Racing. He started his motorsport career with the Challenge Monoplace V de V in 2014, before switching to the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps in 2015 and to the EuroFormula Open in 2016. He also took part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia 2018 and came close to the podium in Mugello before winning the closing round in Vallelunga.



Mateo Llarena, very young born in 2004, took his first steps with karts at 4 years-old, immediately winning the title of National Champion in the Guatemalan Championship – Cadet 60cc category, which saw him again as winner in 2016. At 14 years-old he made his debut in the FIA Nacam Formula 4 Championship , then he quickly moved to GT cars competing in selected Porsche GT3 Cup Argentina races.


In 2019 is the year of his debut and title in the Campeonato Nacional Guatemala GT4, in which he achieved the podium in 8 out of 9 races, while 2020 saw him engaged on three fronts: in the Fara USA Hankook 500 in LMP3, where he became champion, in the GT Challenge de Las Americas in GTS, where he finished third, and in the prestigious Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Europe where he broke 4 records ( youngest to participate, youngest to achieve points, youngest rookie to endure complete season and best Latin American driver ever). In 2021 he is competing at IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in LMP3 class, already competed in Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring.


Imperiale Racing will start its season in the GT Sprint series this coming weekend in Monza, the same track where the 2020 season ended last October. The event will follow the usual program from Friday to Sunday and will enjoy important TV coverage that will allow fans to follow the first two races of the season on TV and web streaming.



 Race one will be on RAI Sport (CH 58 FreeView) on Saturday at 17:50, while race two will get underway on Sunday at 15:30 on ACI Sport TV (CH 228 SKY) and recorded on RAI Sport at 21:15. The live coverage of the races will also be available at www.acisport.it/CIGT and on the Facebook and YouTube pages of the championship.




Luca Del Grosso (Team Manager):

“Being back to the Italian GT Sprint 2021 with the Lamborghini official numbering and two lineups adds a new tile in the history of the team and further value to our tradition in the series with a high-profile program. We will be at the start with two strong lineups and we are certain that drivers, engineers and mechanics will work as one to play the role of the protagonists from the beginning.


As always, there is a lot of determination and a bit of uncertainty before the season opener as we do not know the level of our rivals and only the first sessions on track will tell. This is part of the game and of the charm of the first round of the season. We are proud to continue our collaboration with Alex and welcome Luca, Riccardo and Mateo, this is our #theamezingimperialesquad”.




The program of the weekend (local time):

Friday, April 30th
11:35 – 12:35 Free practice
15:50 – 16:50 Free practice

Saturday, May 1st
11:05 – 11:20 Qualifying 1
11:30 – 11:45 Qualifying 2
17:50 Race 1

Sunday, May 2nd
15:30 Race 2



Italian GT Sprint Championship 2021

April 30th – May 2nd | Monza
June 4th – 6th | Misano
September 3rd – 5th | Imola
October 8th – 10th | Mugello



 
Imperiale Sport Car Service -also photos