MAK Wheels sponsored driver Jacopo Guidetti takes third place in the Honda NSX GT3 Evo paired with Leonardo Moncini and Jorge Cabezas Catalan in the opening round of the season in GT ENDURANCE.

The magical moment continues for Jacopo Guidetti, once again a great protagonist in the Italian Gran Turismo Championship. After the double podium in the season opener at Monza in the Sprint series, the young JAS Motorsport driver scored another prestigious result on his debut in the Endurance series, taking third place overall at the Pergusa circuit. It was the result of a great team effort with teammates Leonardo Moncini and Jorge Cabezas Catalan aboard the Honda NSX GT3 Evo fielded by Nova Race.

It should be emphasised that the crew remained in contention for victory right up to the final moments of the race, with the top three finishing within 1″065 seconds of each other at the end of two hours of hard-fought action. Guidetti was on the track in the first stint of the race and then handed over the wheel to Moncini, who in turn gave way to the Spaniard Cabezas in the final part of the race. The latter was the protagonist of a good duel with the two Huracàn cars of VSR, finishing in the wake of his rivals but still giving a good result to the Lombardy team.
For Guidetti, who is making his debut in an Endurance race, this is a further boost of confidence in a season in which he is confirming himself as one of the fastest youngsters on the GT racing scene. The 19-year-old from Brescia gave the umpteenth proof of his great maturity, making himself the author of a solid and flawless performance: throughout the weekend he worked in great synergy with the team staff, providing valuable feedback to the engineers and perfecting his understanding with his teammates.
At his first contact in his career with the Sicilian circuit, Guidetti took advantage of the test day to get familiar with the track, also focusing his work on finding the best set-up and performing several driver change tests. The Nova Race trio ended the first day with the fastest time overall, making them one of the favourite crews ahead of qualifying and the race.

The #55 car therefore took the third fastest time on the grid, by virtue of the sum of the times achieved by each driver over three separate sessions. Guidetti posted an excellent time of 1:36.037, making a decisive contribution to a decidedly convincing team performance.
At the wheel of the Honda NSX GT3 Evo during the first part of the race, Jacopo made an excellent start that allowed him to overtake the #63 of Karol Basz, putting him in pursuit of the race leader. After a neutralisation phase behind the Safety Car, Guidetti continued to set excellent times in his stint (the best of which was a 1:35.800), although he had to give up second place in order to favour a better race management. The contribution of Jacopo and his team-mate Moncini then proved decisive in allowing Cabezas to play for the win in the final: a result that the Spaniard only came close to achieving, while giving the team a certainly satisfactory third place.

Jacopo Guidetti: « It was a really incredible race! I think we did a great job over the weekend, it was the first time at Pergusa for us and we managed to take an excellent third place. We fought until the end together with my teammates Leonardo and Jorge, managing the race in the best possible way and coming within one second of victory, at the end of two hours in which we never gave up. Now the objective is to continue in this way: for me the start of the season has been very positive, so we have to stay focused in order to bring home precious points for the classification and play it all the way to the end. I would like to thank JAS Motorsport and the team for their fantastic work this weekend, as well as my sponsors MAK Wheels and Eta Carinae for their valuable support. It was a great experience racing here in Sicily, but now we look forward to the next stages, which promise to be crucial for our season! »
Jacopo Guidetti will be back on track at the second round of the season in the Sprint series, scheduled for the weekend of 3-5 June at the Misano Adriatico circuit.