FIRST PODIUM IN THE ITALIAN GT ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR MATTIA BUCCI

The ace from Abruzzo takes second place in the category, fourth place overall in GT Cup for crew no. 219

The first round of the Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship it’s officially over. The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli hosted the inaugural ACI Racing Weekend of the year, which saw Mattia Bucci in action with the Ferrari 296 Challenge of Scuderia Best Lap.

The young talent from Abruzzo, after a Friday spent mainly observing the work of his crewmates Andrea Levy and Ivan David Mari, immediately stood out on Saturday when, in the third of the three scheduled Qualifying sessions, he recorded the best Am class time reference of the GT Cup 1st division category. This result, added to the times achieved by Levy and Mari, allowed the Ferrari no. 219 to line up in second position.

The race, which lasted three hours, offered no ideas, allowing little excitement. Bucci was busy in both the third and final stints of the race: the first stint was heavily conditioned by a Full Course Yellow regime first and then by the Safety Car, leaving him very few laps in which he showed off a fast and constant pace; the second, however, saw the stopwatch mark the fastest time of the entire crew, at the level of some of the cars in the Pro-Am category.

The Pescara racing driver thus crossed the finish line in second position in the Am category, the fourth overall among all the GT Cups, in his debut in this new racing format. The second place was also achieved in the first 100 minutes of the race, allowing him to collect further points.

Mattia Bucci: “It was a positive weekend, because I acquired a lot of feeling with the car. I’m very happy with how I managed my two stints in the race, especially the lapping phase. I managed to be as fast as the Pro-Am drivers, often keeping up with their pace and we consequently finished fourth in the GT Cup general standings. There is always room for improvement, we will certainly seize the best opportunity in Monza. I would like to thank Giovanni Minardi and Minardi Management, Scuderia Best Lap, my sponsors, my family, my staff and Walter Marini together with all his guys.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Lorenzo Colangeli

Matteo Gaudieri
Mattia Bucci’s Press Office