MONTEREY, Calif. – Brandon Gdovic and Conor Daly put together a masterful performance to claim the overall victory in Saturday’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Pole sitter Richard Antinucci got the jump at the start of the 50-minute race, pulling the No. 29 Change Racing/Lamborghini Charlotte entry ahead of the charging No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports/Lamborghini Palm Beach car driven by Gdovic.
After slipping from second to fifth on the start, Sandy Mitchell locked into an early battle for fourth place with Steven Aghakhani. After jockeying for more than five laps, Mitchell finally got by Aghakhani for position on lap 10, shortly before the mandatory pit window opened.
Gdovic led the first group of drivers to pit lane on lap 14, turning the No. 46 over to co-driver Daly. Antinucci made his stop a lap later, with Corey Lewis taking the wheel of the No. 29. Following the pit exchange, Daly came out ahead and waited for the complete pit cycle to finish before assuming the race lead on lap 19 when Dani Clos made his pit stop in the No. 69 Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus and handed the car over to William Hubbell.
From there, the battles began to take shape in each of the four classes. Daly, Lewis and Andrea Amici ran together in formation at the front of the Pro class and the overall field. Lewis closed within the rear bumper of Daly on a few occasions but couldn’t muster the momentum to complete the overtake for the lead. They were still in that order when the time limit was reached, with Daly crossing the finish line 1.825 seconds ahead of Lewis and 3.116 seconds up on Amici.
“It was tough today. It’s super-hot here and the tires were wearing down,” said Daly. “A lot of my work was tire conservation. I know it is tough to pass here so for me it was just trying to win at the slowest possible pace and to have the tires at the end if we needed them. That was our strategy and it played out perfectly. I tried to keep the same pace during my stint and I was successful in keeping yourself underneath you, and I was able to do that.”
“I was trying to conserve as much tires as I could for Conor’s stint,” said Gdovic. “It’s no surprise here that you have to do that. I tried to stay with Richy (Antinucci) during my stint and we had a good driver change. Conor did an awesome job in keeping the lead and bringing it home.”
After taking over for Damon Ockey in the No. 09 US RaceTronics/Lamborghini Vancouver entry, Jacob Eidson moved quickly past Hubbell in the No. 69 for the ProAm lead and wasn’t threatened. The No. 09 won the class and finished sixth overall.
In the Amateur class, Aghakhani and James Sofronas put on a memorable duel in the closing stages. Sofronas – competing in his first Lamborghini North America race of the season – made the decisive maneuver past Aghakhani with less than 13 minutes to go in the race and pulled away to win the class. Cameron Cassels placed third in Am in the No. 33 Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus.
The LB Cup division saw a spirited battle to the finish. Chad Reed and Justin Price took the class lead in the No. 22 Dream Racing Motorsport/Lamborghini Atlanta following the pit cycle. Closing fast, however, was Ashton Harrison after she took over for Stephanie Cemo.
On each of the final two laps, Harrison tried to pass Price coming out of the hairpin last turn.Each time Price held position and clipped Harrison at the line by a mere .145 seconds.