Aleksander Schjerpen along with his teammate Luca Magnoni put in a superb drive last weekend to win the latest round of the 2019 Italian GT Championship at Vallelunga.
After a lengthy spell since the last round, Schjerpen and the NOVA Race team were excited to get back on track and return to the sharp end of the field following a disappointing run at the last round in Misano.
Despite some brief drama in practice where a wishbone failure shortened their running, the signs were looking positive that their pace would be strong for the weekend ahead. Focusing on their race pace, the pair would qualify their Ginetta G55 P4 in class amongst their GT4 arrivals, ahead of Sunday’s 180 minute race.
First in the car to start the race was Magnoni who initially got off to a good start. Approaching the end of the first hour, Luca dived into the pits following a good stint with lots of great battles to hand the car over to Aleksander in P3. The Norwegian was ready for a big push, and during his stint got the #208 crew up to P1 in class by the end of the second hour. Capitalising on a Safety Car period, Schjerpen dived into the pits to hand the car back to Magnoni to finish the race.
He too would find himself having to work hard to maintain their lead, but strong pace and an extra pit-stop for their nearest rival guaranteed them the top spot, much to the joy of the team after three hours of hard racing.
Aleksander Schjerpen – #208 NOVA Race Ginetta G55:
“I am very pleased with how the car behaved during my stint here, I had a good pace and this allowed me to put in a good race. It goes without saying that I am very happy with our second victory in Italy and for this I thank the team and my team mate who did a great job today. We had some of our partners with us this weekend, so it was great to give them a good result at the track.”
Next event:
Italian GT Endurance Championship Round 4, Mugello, Italy – Friday 4th – Sunday 6th October 2019.