Maidan Italian GT Podium for Bartholomew in Mugello

Jack Bartholomew achieved his first podium of the season over the weekend with a second place at Mugello in the Italian GT Endurance Championship driving his Imperial Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

With his usual crew missing one driver for this weekend the team asked Jack to do a double stint in the two our endurance race which meant Jack would start the race then hand over to his team mate then also drive the final stint in the two-hour endurance.

Mugello , which is an hour outside of Florence, Italy was another circuit that Jack had not raced at before but he quickly got to grips with the track on Saturday and qualified in P4 for Sunday’s race.

As the field took the start in the 35-degree heat Bartholomew held his position until lap 8 where he moved into P3, after a safety car on lap 14 to retrieve a damaged car the pit window opened and cars started to swap drivers with Bartholomew remaining out for an extra lap. After handing over to his AM driver Miguel Garcia, the safety car remained out until lap 23. Garcia continued to push until lap 32 when the pit window opened again and Bartholomew took over the car with 40 minutes remaining. Exciting the pits in P10 Bartholomew put together a string of personal best laps and with 10 minutes remaining Bartholomew was up to P2 in the Pro-Am class but was coming under intense pressure from the #51 Ferrari. With slightly fresher tyres after a later pitstop the #51 was trying everything he could to pass Bartholomew but with no avail and Bartholomew crossed the line in P2 in the Pro-Am class and third in the overall classification.

The next round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship is at Monza on 16th & 17th of September.