WEC | THIRD PLACE FOR DAVIDE IN TEXAS

The Lone Star Le Mans, the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship held at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, ended with a podium finish. Davide, together with Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci, climbed up from seventh on the grid with a series of overtakes and fast laps, crossing the finish line first, but receiving a post-race penalty that dropped him back to third place.

The start took place behind the Safety Car due to prohibitive weather conditions, which forced race control to display the red flag for over an hour due to excessive rain. At the restart, the 296 LMGT3s jostled at the back of the pack with the two Bronze-licensed drivers, who put in an excellent stint before handing over the wheel to their Silver teammates, Castellacci and Mann respectively. For them, the comeback continued, with a long series of overtakes in very difficult weather conditions. The final stage of the race saw the two professionals, Davide Rigon and Alessio Rovera, perform a series of decisive overtakes to climb back to the top of the standings.

Car number 54 managed to jump into the lead several times, including the last time a few minutes before the end after fitting slick tires. A five-second penalty after crossing the finish line—for contact with another car a few minutes before the checkered flag—then dropped it back to third place on the podium.

Thanks to its third place finish, the number 54 296 LMGT3 climbs to 46 points overall thanks to its second podium finish of the season, moving up one position in the standings to eighth.

Davide: “It was a really difficult weekend, especially due to the weather conditions. Thomas did well not to make any mistakes despite the heavy rain that forced the safety car to come out. We managed to make up a lot of positions and take the lead in the final stages. It’s a shame about the penalty that ruined the party and a well-deserved victory.”

The next and penultimate round of the FIA WEC will take place at the Japanese Fuji circuit on the weekend of September 26-28, lasting six hours.