Peter Auto’s final event of the 2016 season took place on the weekend of October 22-23 on the Enzo & Dino Ferrari circuit in Imola, Italy, allowing drivers in five of the event’s categories to go head-to-head one last time before season’s end.
In the majority of classes the season finale proved decisive, beginning with Classic Endurance Racing, where Grant Tromans and Richard Meaden (Lola T70 MkIII B) led Martin O’Connell and Sandy Watson (Chevron B19) by a single point in the Proto 1 category going into the Italian round and increased their lead in the overall classification with a victory to take the title.
In GT1, only two points separated the French pair Raymond Narac and Michel Lecourt (Porsche 911 RSR) from the German duo of Ralf Kelleners and Detlef Von der Lieck (de Tomaso Pantera) entering the final race, but the hotly contested race victory ultimately went to the Germans, sealing the championship. In GT2, 3rd place at Imola was sufficient for Peter Muelder and Patrick Simon (BMW M1 Procar) to clinch the trophy over Maurizio Fratti and Andrea Cabianca (Porsche 934).
Two drivers who failed to hold leads they held coming in were Dominique Guénat (Lola T286) in Proto 2 and Yves Scemama (Ford Capri 2600 RS) in the Heritage Touring Cup. The former finished 10th in his race as a runner-up placing for Tony Sinclair (Lola T292-BDG) proved enough to claim the crown, while the latter retired from his race, leaving the HTC title for Claude Boissy and Patrick Bourguignon (Ford Escort 1600 RS).
Among the 45 cars in Sixties Endurance, numerous upsets could be found in the final overall classification. Foremost among them were Christian Dumolin and Christophe Van Riet (Shelby Cobra 289) who arrived at the Italian circuit as favorites, only to be excluded from the race by the stewards. That meant they lost the title by a single point to Thomas Studer (Shelby Mustang GT350).
Unsurprisingly, Lukas Halusa (Ferrari 250 GT Breadvan) won both races in the Trofeo Nastro Rosso, further underlining his domination of the class having sealed the title in the previous event, the Dix Mille Tours.
