Nocturne's Tom Stevens clinched his third Grand Prix United win in race 1 at Imola, as Valle Esport's Peter Vagapov secured his first win in race 2, making him the first Russian driver ever to win a race in Grand Prix United.
29 cars turned up for lights out at Imola, making it the biggest grid in the history of Grand Prix United. With a grid stronger and closer than ever before, tensions were high for qualifying, as every driver tried to find a free spot on the circuit to avoid hinderance during their flying lap. Guyon Branten was the first driver to set a lap time on the boards with a 1:36.856, but this lap time would be beaten within seconds as Tom Stevens crossed the line with a time that would be over six tenths faster.
With two further improvements and a final lap time of 1:35.863, Stevens would remain on top for the entirety of the session. THR's Luke Maguire would secure second, with Stevens' team mate Moritz Kropp in third, making it a 1-3 for Nocturne in qualifying. Mazumder Motorsport's Sven Geelhoed wrestled himself in with the Nocturnes and THR's by securing fourth, with the final THR of Chris Butcher in fifth. The top ten would be completed by Lewis Bickers, Guyon Branten, Michael Eyres, Peter Vagapov and Marijn Pfeifer, and would only be separated by 0.678 seconds.
Tom Stevens had a great start from pole in race 1 and managed to maintain his lead, but behind him it was Moritz Kropp who immediately placed an attack on Luke Maguire. Going side by side into turn 2, Maguire managed to maintain his second place, however this wouldn't last long as a small mistake in turn six during the fourth lap of the race would give Kropp the opportunity to overtake him.
The two Nocturnes managed to create and maintain a steady 3-second gap to the rest of the field during the early to middle stages of the race, with Kropp putting pressure on his team mate for the lead of the race. Meanwhile, in lap nine, Sven Geelhoed in fourth could feel the heat from behind, as Chris Butcher was right up his gearbox. Approaching turn six in the tenth lap of the race, Geelhoed was forced into making a mistake, which saw him off the track and losing not only fourth to THR's Chris Butcher, but also fifth to STAX Racing's Daniel Brewer, who had started the race from p12.
Further back Michael Eyres and Peter Vagapov put pressure on Guyon Branten for ninth. The Dutch driver had clearly been struggling with his tires, and as he approached turn 17 in lap 12, he overshot his braking point and spun the car, which demoted him back to 15th.
In the meantime Tom Stevens managed to create a three-second gap to his team mate, and remained in control of the front. He brought his car home for his third Grand Prix United win, ahead of Moritz Kropp in second, and Luke Maguire in third. However, the fight for fourth wasn't over, with fifth place Daniel Brewer seemingly having the better pace over Chris Butcher, pressuring him in the last lap of the race. Butcher did not crack under pressure and managed to bring his car home in fourth, with Brewer in fifth. The top ten would be completed by Sven Geelhoed, Massimiliano Ribolli, Lewis Bickers, Michael Eyres and Alessandro Valente, with Ribolli and Valente managing incredible recovery drives from p14 and p20 on the grid respectively.
With a top twelve reverse grid for race 2, it meant that Valle Esport's Peter Vagapov would be starting on pole position, ahead of Epic Racing's Jurgen Langerak and Mazumder Motorsport's Alessandro Valente.
Vagapov had an incredible launch off the line, and managed to create a three-second gap after only the first lap of the race. Michael Eyres had a great start from fourth, and immediately overtook Alessandro Valente for third, but an error in turn 6 - which proved to be a difficult corner throughout the whole event - demoted him back no ninth place.
Jurgen Langerak didn't manage to hold on to his second place, and got overtaken by Alessandro Valente, Lewis Bickers and Massimiliano Ribolli before the end of the first lap, with Daniel Brewer following in lap two. He would end up defending for most of the race, and proved to be a difficult driver to pass.
Race 1 second place finisher Moritz Kropp would then find himself in some big trouble, as he went off. For the German driver it meant the end of his race.
In the fifth lap of the race, Alessandro Valente lost control of his car in turn five and had a huge collision with the barriers. The crash would mean an unfortunate end to his otherwise excellent performance, in which he had found himself in fourth place prior to the accident.
Up front it was still Vagapov leading, but by lap ten, Lewis Bickers had completely closed the three-second gap and would start the hunt for his first Grand Prix United victory. The pressure was on, but the young Russian driver did not crack under pressure and managed to hold on to first, although it being close. Bickers had a good run out of the final corner during the last lap of the race, and managed to place his STAX Racing car right next to the Valle Esports car, but with a near photo finish it was still Peter Vagapov who won the race by 0.035 seconds.
Daniel Brewer would secure a double podium for STAX Racing by finishing third, with Chris Butcher in fourth and Luke Maguire in fifth. The top ten would be completed by Tom Stevens, Sven Geelhoed, Liam Howard, Gijs Sonneveld and Jurgen Langerak.
Tom Stevens leads the drivers' championship with 30 points, ahead of Luke Maguire with 21 points and Daniel Brewer with 20 points. In the teams' standings it is Nocturne who leads with 48 points, ahead of THR with 41 points and STAX Racing with 36 points. The next round will be at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg on the 20th of December.