The Dream Racing Motorsport Driver Captures the First of Two Races on the Same Day
By Mark Robinson
ALTON, Va. – Richard Antinucci was on a mission to leave the second round of the 2021 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season with the championship lead. Following Sunday morning’s first race of a doubleheader day at VIRginia International Raceway, he’s well on his way.
Antinucci, driver of the No. 27 Dream Racing Motorsport, Lamborghini Las Vegas Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO, vaulted into the lead at the start of the 50-minute race and never wavered in claiming the overall victory. The 40-year-old’s second win of the season unofficially pushed him into a four-point advantage in the Pro class heading into the afternoon race.
“It’s ideal,” Antinucci said after winning by 6.551 seconds over the No. 6 O’Gara Motorsport/US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills Huracán driven by Jacob Eidson and Steven Aghakhani. “We’ve maximized the weekend so far. We still have another race, so half points still to go, but I can’t be thankful enough for the Bit Bull Dream Racing car. The No 27’s been a rocket all week – all year so far.”
Starting second to pole sitter Loris Spinelli, Antinucci surged past the No. 51 Taurino Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán as soon as the green flag waved. He bided his time through a pair of full-course caution periods that ate up nearly 20 minutes, made his mandatory pit stop as soon as the window opened and wasn’t threatened thereafter.
“I think Spinelli got caught a little bit off guard (at the start),” Antinucci said. “Excellent race. … This track has a lot of attrition. There’s not a lot of runoff that’s asphalt. It’s very beautiful but it’s unforgiving.”
The race for Spinelli and co-driver Claude Senhoreti unfolded with a pair of drive-through penalties: one for incident responsibility in a collision with the No. 44 Ansa Motorsports, Lamborghini Broward Huracán driven by Sergio Jimenez and the second for cutting their pit stop short of the minimum time by more than two seconds.
That opened the door for Brandon Gdovic and Bryan Ortiz to pick up the ProAm class win. Gdovic drove the opening stint in the No. 46 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán and handed it over to Ortiz in the class lead by the time the pit cycle was complete.
“The car was really good,” Ortiz said. “Brandon did a great job coming from 20th (overall) … and then it was just do my best and stay on the track and push. That’s how we did it, but it was all him on the first stint.”
“It’s definitely a good rebound from the second race at COTA where I made a bit of a mistake on our pit stop,” added Gdovic, referring to their third-place ProAm finish at Circuit of The Americas two weeks ago after they won the first race the day before. “Definitely good momentum going into this afternoon’s race, with us starting from the (ProAm) pole.”
Giano Taurino made a spectacular run from the back of the field in the No. 88 Taurino Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán to win the Am class. Starting next-to-last in the 28-car field after the absence of a transponder in the car sidelined him from Saturday qualifying, the series rookie carved his way to a 14-second class lead by the time pit stops were done. He ended up 21.992 seconds ahead of Am runner-up Alan Metni (No. 99 Change Racing, Lamborghini Dallas Huracán) at the checkered flag.
“I started all the way in the back, gained some positions and I was pushing as hard as I could,” Taurino said after earning his second win of the season. “Some of the passes were a little bit scary but it was definitely fun making my way up the ladder.”
In LB Cup, Mark Kvamme made the pass for the class lead with three minutes remaining and held on in the No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán for the win in a tight finish. Kvamme, sharing the car with Terry Olson, was just 0.333 seconds ahead of the No. 4 MCR racing, Lamborghini Miami Huracán at the flag, but the No. 4 was penalized 0.6 seconds for its pit stop being that short of the minimum time, dropping drivers Michael Mennella and Bart Collins to third place. Second in LB Cup went to the No. 36 Change Racing, Lamborghini Charlotte Huracán of Matt Dicken, who was just 0.600 seconds behind Kvamme at the finish.
“Terry did a great job qualifying and everything, and it was just a lot of fun,” Kvamme said. “It was a little bit crazy out there. Lots of spins and I missed guys by inches. Three minutes to go, I got (Collins) over here in (Turns) 4-5. I think he missed a shift or something because, all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ and I had to go on the inside. It feels great!”
The second race of the day starts at 4:35 p.m. ET and streams live on IMSA.com, NBC Sports Gold TrackPass and Lamborghini.com.