Podium start to Italian GT Championship for Middleton at Pergusa 24.05.2021: • Victory bid on Italian GT debut for Stuart Middleton ends with P3 • Star qualifying from British ace on series bow with P1 in his session • BRDC Rising Star makes huge impression on first full GT3 outing

•    Victory bid on Italian GT debut for Stuart Middleton ends with P3

•    Star qualifying from British ace on series bow with P1 in his session

•    BRDC Rising Star makes huge impression on first full GT3 outing




Hugely talented British racing driver Stuart Middleton produced an outstanding performance on his debut in the Italian GT Endurance Championship at Pergusa in Sicily on Sunday, 23rd May, to take a richly deserved podium finish after challenging hard for the race victory.



Under glorious blue skies, the 21-year-old from Ashington in Northumberland helped steer Imperiale Racing’s No.63 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO to a third place result in the opening three-hour race of his maiden season in the category.



Teaming with Italian racers Andrea Amici and Alberto Di Folco, British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star Middleton delivered a sensational performance in qualifying on Saturday, 22nd May, to lap quickest in his session by almost half a second.



In the race, his first at full GT3 level, he was similarly spectacular during the middle stint which he led handsomely by almost half-a-minute before an unfortunate Safety Car period. In the end, the rapid Imperiale trio had to settle for third position.

“For my first time in a GT3 car, my first time at Pergusa as well, I really can’t complain with a podium”, said a buzzing Middleton, “Qualy was really good, I was really happy with my pace and to be 0.4 seconds quicker than anyone in my session was mega. To be honest, we were unlucky not to get the overall P1 but Alberto [Di Folco] just couldn’t get a lap in during his session.



“Even from P4 on the grid though we had a great race and the team did a fantastic job. In my stint I was really in the zone, I feel I’m driving better than ever and the car is so good – it gives you so much confidence. Even after the Safety Car I built a bit of a gap again. There are a lot of positives to take away, we were a bit unlucky but third at such a crazy track, which is a real car killer, is a result.”






Middleton makes his mark with superb Rd1 performance



After a highly competitive run for all three drivers in practice on Saturday, Amici took the first of the three qualifying runs and set a best lap of 1m34.886 seconds to go second quickest. Di Folco ran in session three and had to settle for ninth fastest, a lap of 1m36.401 seconds.



Session two was where the star performance was delivered with Middleton producing a remarkable showing. Only heading out halfway through, the Briton instantly went third fastest on his first flying lap and then improved to second. As the times tumbled he went quicker still and on his last lap of the session he delivered a sensational best of 1m34.083 seconds, topping the times by 0.4 seconds



With each drivers’ fastest lap added together, the combined time meant a fourth place grid slot for Sunday morning’s race. Di Folco took the opening stint of the three-hour encounter and after holding position off the rolling start, he immediately swarmed all over the back of Lorenzo Ferrari.



Pressuring the Audi driver hard, Di Folco made the breakthrough on lap two and rapidly closed the 1.4 second gap to the Ferrari of Matteo Greco. Following an early Safety Car period Di Folco sized up an attack, but a slight wobble on lap 13 opened the door for Matteo Cressoni to move into third.



Having slipped back from the podium battle, Di Folco worked his way back into contention and on lap 23 he passed Greco’s Ferrari to move back into the top three. At the end of hour one Di Folco pitted to hand over the Lamborghini Huracan to Middleton – the first of the top three to stop.



Joining the race in third, when the front-running order settled Middleton was 10 seconds behind second position but immediately started to close the gap. Then, on lap 39, Stefano Comandini’s BMW tagged one of the chicane tyre stacks and Middleton swept past into second.



Into lap 42 he was nine seconds behind the race leading Ferrari and in sector one alone sliced 1.7 seconds off the advantage. The next time around as they crossed the line Middleton was only 5.8 seconds adrift, just as the Safety Car appeared due to the dislodged trye stack.



At the re-start on lap 46 he was on the tail of the No.21 Ferrari and wasted no time whatsoever in moving into the lead, producing a great pass into the first corner before putting the hammer down. Within a single lap his lead was 4.6 seconds, by the start of lap 47 this had incredibly almost doubled.



Opening a gap of more than 26 seconds by lap 61, vexingly his terrific lead was then decimated by the appearance of the Safety Car after the No.21 machine expired in a cloud of smoke. Racing then resumed on lap 63 and Middleton started to build a gap again before pitting at the end of hour two.



All the while, the Imperiale squad kept an eye on the lead gap with a five second penalty to be applied post-race for a yellow flag infringement. Amici took over and joined the action in second with just over 55 minutes to run, the No.12 Audi having assumed the lead when Middleton pitted.



When the stops had been completed, the Audi emerged just 0.5 seconds ahead but it was able to pull away. Amici’s attention had to turn to the advancing Giancarlo Fisichella in the No.27 Ferrari who was closing quickly, but the Imperiale racer did well under pressure to keep the former Grand Prix winner at bay. At the flag, with the penalty applied, Amici missed second by just 0.6 seconds.



Next on the Italian GT Endurance Championship schedule is a visit to Mugello in Tuscany over the weekend 3rd/4th July for round two of the season.



2021 Italian GT Endurance Championship Standings (after Rd1)
3rd Stuart Middleton/Andrea Amici/Alberto Di Folco, 12pts





Marc Orme Media & PR- photos Italian GT