Zulauf-Hirsiger triumphant in Austria as Dimitrov-Riccitelli (VSR) take Italian GT victory at Imola
Sant’Agata Bolognese/Spielberg, 26 April 2026 – Lamborghini claimed an early lead in the ADAC GT Masters standings after Team Engstler’s Finn Zulauf and Felix Hirsiger came out on top in a thrilling photo-finish in the opening race of the year at the Red Bull Ring. The crew of the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 added a third-place finish in race two to cap off a successful weekend in Austria.
Elsewhere, it was a successful start to the Italian GT Championship Sprint Cup season, with VSR’s Georgi Dimitrov and Simone Riccitelli overcoming a late safety car intervention to take victory in the first race of the weekend at Imola.
ADAC GT Masters – Red Bull Ring
The weekend began strongly for the #63 crew of Zulauf and Hirsiger, who finished inside the top six in free practice before the former struck late in an ultra-competitive qualifying session on Saturday morning to grab pole position for the opening race. Zulauf’s pole time of 1m28.563 was 0.020s quicker than the Aston Martin of Jamie Day, while the sister Engstler Lamborghini Huracán of rookie Ethan Brown – sharing with Tim Hütter – was an impressive sixth fastest.
Off the rolling start, Zulauf made a good getaway and led the opening lap from the chasing Ford Mustang of Kiano Blum, initially establishing a slender of just under a second. Throughout the first stint, however, the #63 appeared to struggle for pace and dropped to second behind Blum. Having trailed the Mustang by around two seconds, Zulauf closed the gap before handing over to Hirsiger at the mandatory driver-change pit-stop. Hirsiger then had more pace than the leader during the second stint and reduced the deficit to just half a second entering the final stages.
Despite piling on the pressure, the #63 was stuck in dirty air and appeared to have missed its chance of overtaking. But a late push from Hirsiger on the final lap forced the Mustang to run wide at the last corner, which gave the Austrian driver the overlap on the run to the chequered flag. With more momentum, the #63 managed to out-drag the #2 to take victory by just 0.147s.
Hirsiger qualified the #63 third on the grid for Sunday’s second race and, despite initially moving up a spot at the first corner, settled into the final podium place for the duration of the opening stint. Zulauf took over at the pit-stops and kept the car running straight for the remainder of the race.
With victory and a third, Zulauf and Hirsiger lead the drivers’ standing by 14 points heading into the second round of the year at Zandvoort next month.
Italian GT Championship Sprint Cup – Imola
A total of 10 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2s took to the grid for the opening round of the Italian GT Championship Sprint Cup season at Imola, with VSR’s Georgi Dimitrov and Simone Riccitelli leading the 34-car field off the rolling start from pole position – inherited after a penalty for the Ferrari that topped first qualifying.
Riccitelli held onto his advantage at the start as the #72 DL Racing Huracán of Franck Perera moved up into second place at the first safety car restart, deployed after a high-speed accident involving the #34 Oregon Team Lamborghini of Artëm Petrov. Riccitelli then handed over to Dimitrov at the mandatory driver-change pit-stop, with the Lamborghini Young Professional Driver taking a 10-second lead over the chasing BMW of Raffaele Maricello into the second stint. A second safety car intervention late on in the race meant there was just one lap left at the restart and, with Marciello on the prowl, Dimitrov performed superbly to re-establish a healthy lead on the final lap to claim his and Riccitelli’s first Italian GT victory. Perera and team-mate Luca Segù completed the podium in third.
Race winner and Lamborghini Young Professional Driver, Georgi Dimitrov said: “It was tough to judge exactly when to go, at the last safety car, but the team gave us a great car, they gave us a great car all weekend, so big congratulations to them. We did the job so super happy to get the first win in the championship and we are hoping to continue the momentum for the rest of the season.”
