RICHARD ANTINUCCI AND GIAN LUCA GIRAUDI EARN A PODIUM FINISH IN THE ITALIAN GT CHAMPIONSHIP, MAGIONE, ITALY.

Antinucci recovered from a challenging fifth place in the second race to take a podium place in round six of the GT3 series.

Monday, June 7, 2010

SUNDAY'S NOTES
Both of Sunday's events started well for Audi Sport Italia and their R8 racecars. The squeezing that often goes on at the start of sportscars races was constantly on display in Magione. Especially at the second corner: cars tangled and Filipe Albuquerque and Richard Antinucci brilliantly made up ground from their grid position (2nd and 5th respectively) closing the first lap first and third place. Antinucci did not let runnerup Stefano Gattuso hold P2 for long, forcing his way on the inside of the Ferrari to grab the runnerup spot at Turn 2. Throughout the first stint the Audi pair led a comfortable 1-2, whilst the pole sitters' Porsche GT3 R — who got tangled in the opening lap tussle — started to make up ground. After the mandatory pit stop Gian Luca Giraudi, Antinucci's team mate, was back on track in the lead, but a 4-lap safety car spell erased his 10-second cushion. When the race resumed Giraudi could not fend off the comeback of eventual winner Raffaele Giammaria's (Porsche GT3 R) and Brian Lavio (Ferrari 430). The final laps were mainly hindered by reliability problems. Giraudi suffered fuel pick-up issues, forcing him to finish fourth behind team mate Marco Bonanomi, who had taken over Albuquerque at the mandatory pit-stop.
Race 2 was held late Sunday afternoon, so all teams and drivers were forced to race twice on the same day. The race started with Bonanomi leading from the start in the sister Audi R8, whilst Giraudi dropped from a promising initial 3rd place after a spin at the most demanding hairpin. By lap 10 Bonanomi was caught and overtaken by the unstoppable Team Autorlando Porsche —which sweeped both races— and by Gattuso's Ferrari F430. After the Audi R8's pitted and swapped drivers, Albuquerque tried unsuccessfully to move past Fabio Garofano's Ferrari for a couple of laps, but eventually gave way to Antinucci. This teamwork paid off, as Richard Antinucci duly grabbed the third spot from the Ferrari on the very next lap, with a bold move which also helped his Portoguese team-mate follow suit and take fourth place. The two R8 LMS finished the race in this order.

RICHARD'S TAKE
"It’s not easy to overtake around here at Magione, as it's a tight and twisty circuit. Moreover the Ferraris still have an edge in top speed on our R8s, therefore I'm happy to have won the fun battles on track with the Swiss-entered Ferraris. When I pulled inside Gattuso on the second lap of Race 1, I also got my first taste of a door-to-door fight in a GT sportscar race, and it's a lot of fun. From then on I followed my team mate Albuquerque, who was really pushing hard as well to try and build a gap on the much quicker Porsche, but all our efforts throughout the stint weren't enough. The fact the Porsche actually won the overall race, in front of the GT2 cars, in spite of a drive-through penalty tells you enough about their pace and the unfair advantage they hold over the rest of the GT3 race cars. My overtaking manoeuvre on Garofano's Ferrari in Race 2 was one of the highlights of my Sunday: I hope the Italian race fans enjoyed the move as much as I did.
It's nice that my 4 races with Audi Sport Italia came to a close on a high note. I've relished everyday I've spent with Audi Sport Italia. There's a friendly, yet extremely professional atmosphere within the team. I hope we'll have some more racing weekends with these guys. Its been great fun.
Ciao Belli!."

The Rome, Italy-born driver finished the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season as runner-up to Raphael Matos, who's then moved up to the major open-wheel series joining series Luczo Dragon team. Team 3G will be on track with Richard Antinucci driving the #98 Curb/Agajanian/Team 3G entry in the Camping World Grand Prix at Watkins Glen on July 3-5. The Camping World IndyCar race at Watkins Glen will be broadcast live on ABC at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.