Jordan Sherratt and Gianfranco Giglioli represented the Sant’Agata Bolognese brand in the SRO GTWC Esports Sprint Europe Pro class’s first round in Misano
Sant’Agata Bolognese, 8 April 2022 - Automobili Lamborghini Esports Team drivers Jordan Sherratt and Gianfranco Giglioli recorded a debut double points finish in the SRO Esports Sprint Europe Championship, the first event for the official factory Lamborghini entry in the Esports scene.
Coming into the event, Sherratt and Giglioli prepared with the support of Squadra Corse staff to hone the performance of their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo throughout testing and official practice. The event started well with both drivers showing good pace in free practice while they held off making changes to their cars as the virtual track had yet to fully rubber in.
Qualifying showed a great performance from Sherratt to place in P8 in the Pro class, while Gianfranco was just two tenths of a second behind in P19.
As the lights went out for Lamborghini’s first ever factory team in Esports, Jordan made a superb start to run P6, capitalising on cars around him who took slightly longer to get their tyres into the operating window. Meanwhile Gianfranco was making moves to climb 5 positions until a small mistake early in the race saw lose the advantage he had worked hard to attain.
With the pit window open 15 minutes into the race, Jordan kept the pace in the top 6 but was given a 5s penalty for light contact early in the race which he would have to serve during the mandatory pitstop, meanwhile Gianfranco was setting a good pace trying to recover from the bottom of the top 20 of the bumper 47 car grid. Both cars pitted late on with about twenty minutes of the race remaining.
Sherratt lost some time in the pitlane with some light bodywork repairs which dropped him down the order, but a charging comeback from the South African saw him rise to take 11th at the flag and with it the first points for the team. Gianfranco meanwhile drove a strong race to take the final points paying position of P15 in the Pro class to cap off a solid debut weekend for the newborn Esports team.
Jordan, driver of car #63 commented, “I was very pleased to take 8th in qualifying as we were only a couple of tenths of pole, and it shows we did a super job for our first event together. I was extremely happy for a strong start to the race to run solidly in the top 6 until the penalty. The fact that with a bit more luck the potential was there for 6th makes me optimistic about the rest of the season and I am looking forward to putting in the work to take Lamborghini to the top step”.
Gianfranco, driver of car #97 shared “Honestly, I was hoping for a little bit more from qualifying, but I am happy because I have struggled a bit in testing in Misano so to be just a couple of tenths shy from Jordan, and 4 tenths from the pole was a good recovery. I couldn’t have hoped for more from the race start given I took 5 places, but my small mistake cost us the chance of a better result. Overall, I am delighted to score points on the team’s debut race, and I will work even harder for our next outing.”
Team Principal of Automobili Lamborghini Esports Dan Wells declared his satisfaction with the first event: “This is a new venture for Lamborghini, but we have worked very hard in the past few months to bring this project together and it was great to see a successful debut event. With thanks to our drivers, test drivers and engineers, we managed to tick a lot of boxes this week and we have identified some areas to work on for the coming events which is positive. We will keep pushing to get to the top step.”
The next round of the SRO Esports GT Europe takes place in Zandvoort on May 4th.
