Alessio Deledda and Jordan Pepper in their Oregon Team Lamborghini took their second win of the season on Saturday in Race 1 at the Red Bull Ring, in cold but largely dry conditions.
Following Pepper’s pole in the morning, the #63 car led from start to finish, with the South African building a good gap in the first stint despite a safety car period and the Italian perfectly controlling all events in the final part, under the drizzle.
“Jordan did most of the job today, although it wasn’t easy in my stint, with a lot of the traffic and the rain starting to fall again”, said Alessio Deledda, who retakes the lead in the standings, ten points ahead of Reicher-Haase (Eastalent Audi), only ninth today in their home track.
The Lambo beat the Car Collection Porsche of Nico Menzel and Gustaf Bergström, who took its third podium of the season, and Rolf Ineichen, in his return, and Leonardo Pulcini were third completing the good day of Oregon.
It was a home win in Pro-Am for Ernst Kirchmayr, this time together with Giacomo Altoè, the second of the season with the racing one Ferrari, ahead of Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz (Olimp Audi) and Valentin Pierburg-Aaron Walker (GetSpeed Mercedes).
And it was a winning debut in Am for US racer Ziad Ghandour, in the AF Corse Ferrari, who beat standings leader Giuseppe Cipriani (Barone Rampante Lambo) and Heiko Neumann-Timo Rumpfkeil (Motopark Mercedes).
It was almost dry but cold when the start was given, with poleman Jordan Pepper starting perfectly and building a 2-second advantage on the very first lap, with a fierce fight behind him.
Khodair had a less good getaway and was passed in the early stages by Schiller, Dunner, Menzel and Basz, with a second group led by Petrov.
On lap 2, though, the safety car was out, Cozzi sliding off track in turn 3 and beached after a slight hit by De Meeus who had suffered a similar misfortune on the damp side of the track.
The restart came after four laps and on lap 7 Pepper had already rebuilt his 2-second advantage, leading over Schiller, Menzel and Dunner, all in full fight, Basz, Khodair, Petrov, Ineichen, Menchaca, Marinangeli and Kell. Rumpfkeil led in Am, while Hash and Nana tangled one lap later, both spinning.
Pepper increased his gap up to 5.7 seconds by lap 15 when the pit stop window opened, with Schiller, Menzel, Dunner and Khodair still in the tight-packed chasing group, while Ineichen had passed Petrov for 7th.
After all routine stops were completed, Deledda led by 5 seconds over Bergström and 7 on Bartone, with Jedlinski, L.Pulcini, Fluxá and Moretti in a second group and further away Siebert, Pierburg and Macdonald. Neumann kept the lead in Am.
The gap between first and second fluctuated between 3 and 5 seconds for some laps while Pulcini passed Bartone for third and Jedlinski slid to ninth behind Fluxá, Siebert and Macdonald but retained P1 in Pro-Am ahead of Altoè and Pierburg.
Both Hahn’s and Mardini’s cars meanwhile received 5-second penalties for not serving the entire handicap.
There would be no big changes in the final laps except for Altoè passing Jedlinski and clinching victory in Pro-Am.
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