NOT THE DEBUT MATTIA BUCCI HOPED FOR
The driver from Abruzzo concluded his first race weekend with a hillclimb
The first ACI Sport race weekend was held from April 24th to 26th, where the young driver from Pescara inaugurated the 2026 season in the Italian Gran Turismo Sprint Championship, with some purely uphill days.
With the second free practice session interrupted, Mattia Bucci and his teammate Pietro Agoglia were unable to participate in qualifying due to a technical issue, relegating them to the last position on the grid, forty- sixth. Thanks to the hard work of the DL Racing team mechanics, the two were able to take to the track for the first race at the last minute, the true heroes of the day. Mattia was the driver who started the race, starting from the pit lane. In his 25-minute stint, he managed 17 overtakes, finishing thirteenth in the class. At the driver change, Pietro Agoglia took control of the Lamborghini number 163 and finished the race in eleventh place in the PRO-AM category. Pietro Agoglia started Race 2, but unfortunately, he was involved in an accident before the third turn.
Thus ends the first race weekend for the two drivers, who, however, do not lose sight of their goal: analyzing the micro-sectors of free practice and the races, they note potential, which they hope to exploit in the next round of the championship. The wait for Misano, in fact, is short: in just two weeks (May 8th to 10th), the first CIGT Endurance race weekend will take place.
“It was a truly uphill weekend. We weren’t able to get any good laps in free practice on Friday due to the heavy traffic we encountered. On Saturday, a technical problem, which almost lasted until Race 1, prevented us from taking to the track for qualifying, and only thanks to the guys on the team were we able to take part in the first race. We had made up a lot of positions and knew we had to mount an aggressive comeback on Sunday, but unfortunately, fate didn’t work out for us,” said Mattia. “But now we’re moving on and focusing on Misano.”
The three free practice sessions will be held on Friday at 11:05 AM and 4:05 PM, and finally on Saturday at 9:20 AM. Qualifying will take place at 6:25 PM, 7:05 PM, and 7:45 PM. The race will take place at 2:50 PM on Sunday. The events will be available to follow on the official Aci Sport channel (http://www.youtube.com/@ACISportTVofficial), on Sky channel 228, and on Tivùsat channel 52.
Mattia invites you to stay connected and follow him in this new chapter through his, Minardi Management, team, and championship social media pages:
Instagram: @mattiabucci_official; Facebook: Mattia Bucci – Racing Driver
Instagram: @minardi_management; Facebook: Minardi Management
Instagram: @mattiabucci_fanclub
Instagram: @dlracing.official
Instagram: @cigranturismo; Facebook: Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo
The press officer, Federica Moccia