Middleton scores first Italian victory

North motor sport with ZOE BURN

NORTHUMBERLAND driver Stuart Middleton was celebrating last week after scoring his first ever Italian GT Sprint Championship win at Imola.

As the championship returned and Middleton came back from injury, the 22-year-old from Ashington headed to the third round eager to chase at least a podium.

The Lamborghini GTW Junior Programme racer has spent the last couple of months recuperating and recovering from injuries sustained in a pitlane accident at the opening round at Monza – but he was determined to prove he was back to his best.

Back together with teammate Alberto Di Folco in the Imperiale Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, the team was on the pace straight away in free practice, carrying it through to qualifying and grabbing a second row grid spot for the opening race.

As the lights changed to start the evening race, Middleton immediately moved up into second place behind polesitter BMW M4 of Jens Klingmann – the driver who caused his injuries in the Monza incident.

After 10 minutes of action the Safety Car came out and once racing resumed, Middleton kept within a second of Klingmann as the pit-stops neared, applying increasing pressure but all the while knowing he didn’t need to take any risks.

Pitting with 22 minutes left on the clock to hand over to Di Folco, when the race order settled, the Imperiale car held the lead – and even another Safety Car couldn’t halt the charge as Di Folco kept control. He eventually took the win, the second for the team this year.

“It’s obviously fantastic to get the first win of the year, especially a season that has thrown so much at us”, said Middleton. Alberto did an amazing job as he always does, the Imperiale guys had the car working well and we weren’t all that far away from the podium in race two. Overall it’s been a mega weekend and just what we needed.”

Race two brought a fourth place for the pairing as they just missed out on another podium after a hectic battle.

And despite a really difficult season, Middleton finds himself now eighth in the championship and is just 14 points away from the top six in the standings.

“It’d be great to try and end the season in the top six of the championship”, he said. “We took our first win in the Endurance Championship last season at Mugello, so really good memories from there and I’m looking forward to being back.”

The fourth and final event of the Italian GT Sprint Championship season will take place at Mugello, over the weekend October 22-23.