Tom Emson delivered the final stint that secured back-to-back International GT Open race wins for Elite Motorsport at the Misano World Circuit.
Along with his #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo teammate Tom Lebbon, the pairing became the first repeat race winners in the 2026 season.
The roles switched in today’s sprint to the finish since snatching victory yesterday from Greystone GT, with Emson holding off pressure from McLaren GT3 driver Dean Macdonald during the closing laps.
“We obviously suit this place,” said Lebbon, “We weren’t expecting to win the race with the (15-second) success penalty, but we had a mega pit stop, a mega first stint.
“Tom dealt really well with the traffic.
“It was close and exciting, but yeah, it was really, really good.
“Yesterday wasn’t too much hard work apart from qualifying, but today was a lot harder,” added Emson.
“Yes, we suit the place, but I think the team also did a really good job at setting the car up so that we were fast here.
“And we knew that Dean was going to be fast, so we had to clear the traffic as much as possible.
“We still take it race-by-race, but yeah, it’s really, really good [to lead the championship].
“The McLaren was really fast, but we just held on at the end.”
Elite Motorsport capitalised on the woes of the #71 Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maximilian Götz and Christian Mansell, who led the championship before this race meeting and trailed the #17 Ferrari duo by one point before this second race of the weekend.
The #71 Mercedes endured a tricky start from fourth position when Götz received right-rear contact from another car, causing the bodywork to smoke as it dragged the rear-right tyre.
Götz pitted on Lap 3, and even though the team continued to the pit window for Mansell to take over, they retired towards the end.
Behind the #33 Greystone McLaren of Macdonald and Zac Meakin, there was a fierce battle for third place.
Alex Fontana secured the final podium spot in the #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo after taking over from his teammate Pietro Armanni, redeeming from the team’s retirement at Spa last month.
Fontana asserted strong form during his fight to the end, making a move on Leonardo Moncini’s #63 Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2, who was slightly compromised by backmarker traffic, before doing so on Rafael Durán’s #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
After the pit stops, Durán led Emson — who took over early in pursuit of clean air — and Macdonald, but was quickly pressured by the two British drivers as the 60-minute sprint entered its crucial phase.
Durán and his teammate Tomasco Mosca took fourth position in the end, with Mosca having challenged Lebbon’s #17 Elite Ferrari at the race start, albeit not enough to steal the lead. Even so, this was their best race finish so far this season.
Moncini brought the #63 Lamborghini home in fifth position with his teammate Rodrigo Testa having started 10th overall, seventh in the Pro category.
Motopark’s #28 Mercedes was the only car between the team’s pair to reach the checkered flag in the hands of Marcelo Ramírez and his teammate, Dominik Baumann.
Al Manar by Dragon Racing finished in seventh position in the hands of David Fumanelli and Al Faisal Al Zubair. Zubair started down in 17th, making a strong comeback up the field later when Fumanelli took over.
Lucas Wolf and his teammate Alexander Fach took Fach Auto Tech’s fourth Pro-Am class victory, third consecutively, in the #11 Porsche.
Fach incurred a 10-second time penalty after causing a collision with the Pro-class entered #96 AF Corse Ferrari of Lorenzo Ferrari.
By that point, Yannick Mettler in the #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes led comfortably in Pro-Am before pitting with 30 minutes left on the clock when the mechanics lifted the bonnet open as smoke simmered out, indicating a mechanical problem marginally influenced by the hot weather conditions.
Laurent De Meeus spun off at the race start, then again into the gravel at Turn 13, which made him the first retirement of the race in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari. The #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes was the second.
Wolf inherited the lead after the #54 Mercedes’s problem, but their pit stop handicap handed it to the #7 PTT Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Hurbert Darmetko.
Unfortunately for the #7 BMW team, Wolf took the lead back from them before also running into issues, eliminating Wolf’s main challenger for the Pro-Am win.
Olimp Racing’s #777 Karol Basz and his teammate Marcin Jedliński started down in 21st and finished second in Pro-Am, two cars positions behind Wolf’s #11 Porsche.
Libor Milota claimed third in the #75 Team ISR Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 with the work of his teammate Filip Salaquarda.
In the Am category, Good Speed Racing secured a class victory in the #14 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo with Polish duo Piotr Wira and Tomasz Magdziarz.
Krystian Korzeniowski held the Am lead during the opening phase of the race with ease in the #5 Olimp Racing Ferrari, multiple positions ahead of his nearest class rivals.
The #14 Aston Martin only took the lead with two minutes remaining in the race when the #79 Sendom Racing Lamborghini of Seweryn Mazur stopped on track.
Target Racing’s #39 Ferrari of Huilin Han claimed second position in Am, followed by Joel Monegro’s #12 Fach Auto Tech Porsche, which recovered from a spin at Turn 3 early during the race.
Seven cars failed to reach the checkered flag, including the #55 AF Corse Ferrari, the #54 CBRX by SPS Mercedes, the #9 Getspeed Mercedes (Anthony Bartone), the #71 Motopark Mercedes and Jim Pla’s #26 Saintéloc Audi, which stopped on the left-hand side at Turn 7.
Good Speed prevailed where the #7 PTT Racing BMW and the #79 Sendom Lamborghini did not, taking their second Am class podium appearance since the Portimão opener.
Pics FOTO Speedy/ GT Open
