ProAm, Am Titles Head to Friday Race Two Showdown
By Tony DiZinno
MISANO, Italy – With an authoritative drive in the first of two North American races as part of the Lamborghini World Final weekend, Danny Formal and Hampus Ericsson have clinched the Pro class championship in the 2025 Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America season at Misano World Circuit.
Meanwhile the ProAm and Am championship battles are set to go to Friday’s second race of the weekend to conclude the North American schedule ahead of the World Finals on Saturday and Sunday.
Pro
Formal qualified the No. 101 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 on pole for the first of two 50-minute races, which proved critical for track position. On a colder day at the track near the Adriatic coast, Formal was cool under pressure from the start and immediately streaked away while his closest championship rival lost positions on the start.
Formal’s teammate Nick Persing in the No. 108 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán, and the ProAm polesitter Nico Jamin in the No. 130 ANSA Motorsports, Lamborghini Orlando, Huracán, got by Will Bamber in the No. 129 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami, Huracán heading into Turn 1 off the start at the 2.626-mile circuit. Bamber and co-driver Elias De La Torre needed to finish ahead of Formal and Ericsson on Thursday to have any chance of extending the championship battle into Friday’s second race of the weekend.
With Formal out in front for his first 25 minutes before handing over to Ericsson at the halfway point, the Swede maintained momentum for the balance of his stint to drive to victory by 12.718 seconds. It marks Formal and Ericsson’s seventh win of the season, and fifth consecutive, after successive weekend sweeps at Road America and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“Best stint of his young career with Wayne Taylor Racing this last one; he got about a seven second lead and just kept going faster and faster,” Formal said of Ericcson. “Not a single track limit as everyone knows. It’s a very ‘track limit’ track. So, very proud of him.
“Champions, my third championship with the team; three championships in four years for us, and 100 wins for Wayne Taylor Racing. Fantastic for us to be able to bring that to the team,” Formal added.
Ericsson said, “It’s my first season with them, and it’s been so good. Every race weekend on and off the track, the team has really been on it every time. I need to thank my brother here, Danny. He’s guided me in America, my first season in America, and it’s been incredible the whole year and to finish it with championship as well.”
On the century milestone, Wayne Taylor noted: “Super excited. We must be one of the first teams to win 100 wins in this series. All the drivers really presented themselves well today and did an incredible job. My hat is off to this team. It is not just the driver who wins a race, or the tire changer who wins the race, it is the team as a whole who makes it happen and this team does this race after race, no matter the odds. The team has done an incredible job – the 100th win is a big deal. Clinching the championship the day before the final race of the North American season, gives us some breathing room before the World Finals. I am really looking forward to seeing how we stack up against the world this weekend.”
De La Torre recovered to second to hold off a hard charging Al Morey. Morey and Keawn Tandon finished a season-best third in the No. 177 Forty7 Motorsports, Lamborghini Philadelphia, Huracán.
“It’s a mix between U.S. rules and here,” Bamber explained. “We don’t run a lighting system (in the U.S.); I wasn’t sure when we meant to go. Others jumped us fair and square, but Elias did an awesome job to bring it home and tomorrow hopefully go one better!”
ProAm
The ProAm championship battle had a spanner in the works with the returning Jamin and Antoine Comeau leading early in the race and poised to take key points off the two championship contenders. However, their win chances came undone when Persing contacted Jamin at Turn 4 just past the halfway point of the race and pitched the Frenchman into a spin; Persing was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.
After running a clean race, Conrad Geis and Jason Hart in the No. 67 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami, Huracán took a pivotal ProAm win to close three points on championship leaders Tadas Karlinskas and Darius Trinka in the No. 11 MLT Motorsports, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán. Jamin and Comeau ended third.
The Lithuanians entered with a seven-point lead (90-83) over the Americans. Unofficially, the three-point gap puts Geis and Hart within four points of Karlinskas and Trinka (102-98). Karlinskas and Trinka will gain one point on Friday though with pole position for race two, so will start Friday five points ahead (103-98).
Am
The Am title battle shifts to Friday after once again, trouble befell the championship-leading entry of Glenn McGee and Graham Doyle and podium finishes for their two closest rivals ensures a three-way fight.
McGee led early from a pivotal pole position in his No. 110 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán, but a short pit stop triggered a post-race time penalty that dropped he and Doyle to fifth in Am. McGee also noted a handling imbalance during his stint.
Lindsay Brewer and Jem Hepworth gained the most in their No. 102 RAFA Racing, Lamborghini Austin, Huracán with a runner-up finish and David Staab with a third-place result in his No. 148 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán.
The pole for McGee and Doyle now sees them just one point ahead of Staab and five ahead of Brewer heading to Race 2 (114-113-109).
With the championship battle taking precedence, Mateo Siderman benefited from McGee and Doyle’s misfortune to score his third straight Am class win in the No. 163 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Westlake, Huracán.
LB Cup
The most straightforward race among the four classes was in LB Cup, led from flag-to-flag by Rocky T. Bolduc in his No. 199 RAFA Racing Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán ahead of the other two cars entered in class. Bolduc can’t claim the championship as Nick Groat mathematically clinched it at Indianapolis, but nonetheless, Bolduc can claim his first LB Cup weekend sweep of the season after winning his second race of the year Thursday.
The North America championship season concludes Friday at 3:00 a.m. ET (9:00 a.m. local time) with race two before World Final races on Saturday and Sunday. All races stream via the Lamborghini Squadra Corse YouTube channel.