WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal capped off the perfect weekend in the Finger Lakes region of New York, sweeping to their second Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America win in as many days Saturday at Watkins Glen International. Coupled with the two pole positions they earned, the duo earned maximum weekend points and stretched their Pro class lead at the halfway point of the 2022 season for the single-make series.
The co-drivers of the No. 1 Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 dominated Saturday’s 50-minute race. Starting second to the No. 42 NTE Sport, Lamborghini Dallas Huracán entry in the ProAm class, Marcelli got the jump on Jaden Conwright and passed the No. 42 heading into Turn 1 on the opening lap.
“When you have a good car underneath you, the workload just gets cut in half and that’s what I found today,” Marcelli said. “The car was so nice to drive that you could sort of almost under-drive the car and still get the lap time out of it. That’s always a great position to be in as a driver.”
Marcelli and Formal led every lap thereafter except during the cycle for the mandatory green-flag pit stops, with the race ending under a full-course caution.
“I want to say thank you to Wayne Taylor Racing and Prestige Performance,” Formal said. “They gave us a beast today and yesterday and the day before and last race – and all this year. Seriously, the car’s been phenomenal.
“Super happy,” he added. “We extended the points lead and just managed that race.”
By collecting the maximum 32 points for the weekend, Marcelli, Formal and the No. 1 Huracán expanded their Pro class lead to 17 points over Edoardo Piscopo, Patrick Kujala and the No. 50 O’Gara Motorsport/Change Racing/US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills Huracán with six races remaining.
The ProAm class victory went to Damon Ockey and Patrick Liddy in the No. 8 O’Gara/Change/USRT, Lamborghini San Diego Huracán. A quicker pit stop and out lap was the key as Ockey notched his first series win since his 2019 ProAm championship season.
“Patrick started and had a stellar start, went from sixth to third and put down some awesome laps and got me a gap in front of the field,” Ockey said. “It feels really good to finally win again. We’ve had some pretty unfortunate events up to this point. Now we got some good luck and I think we’re turning the corner for the season.”
Bryan Ortiz and Sebastian Carazo, winner of Friday’s ProAm race in the No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán, finished second Saturday and closed within four points of class leaders Ashton Harrison and Tom Long (No. 25 Harrison Contracting with Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus Huracán) atop the standings
David Staab and Nikko Reger solidified their points advantage by winning in the Am class. The No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán duo inherited the victory under the late caution when leader Shehan Chandrasoma pulled his smoking No. 19 MCR racing, Lamborghini Austin Huracán off track.
“We had a great pace – PPM gave us a phenomenal race car – so we knew we were at least going to challenge for the win if it stayed green,” Reger said. “I think we would’ve had him by the checkered.”
With their first win since the 2022 opener at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Staab and Reger built their Am points lead to 13 over Cam Aliabadi (No. 17 Dream Racing Motorsport, Lamborghini Walnut Creek Huracán).
“Ever since we got that top step on the podium, we wanted to get back there again,” Staab said. “We’ve had some seconds and thirds but it feels really good to get back on top. My stint today was just trying to stay as close to the lead as I can to put us in a good spot for Nikko to jump in the car and bring it home, which he did.”
Slade Stewart returned to victory lane for the third time this season in LB Cup, driving the No. 14 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach Huracán. Stewart rebounded from a sixth-place finish on Friday that saw him spin and make wall contact heading to the green flag and later incur a pair of drive-through penalties.
“Yesterday was frustrating; today was a lot of hard work,” Stewart said. “We were managing the tires because it was hotter today. Hate to finish under a pace car but we’ll take it.”
Stewart, who has won one race in each of the three doubleheader rounds this season, has an 11-point lead over Ofir Levy and Jon Hirshberg (No. 13 O’Gara/Change/USRT, Lamborghini Rancho Mirage Huracán) at the completion of the Watkins Glen weekend.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America returns to action Aug. 4-7 at Road America with another doubleheader weekend as part of the IMSA Sportscar Weekend.