Lirim Zendeli drove one of his best races so far to finish on the podium and take his second podium of the season with third place – and first rookie to the flag – in round 5 of the one-make Porsche Carrera Cup Italia at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello in Tuscany.

Qualifying in P5 for the Saturday race at a scorching hot Mugello circuit, the Ombra Racing driver produced two stunning overtaking moves around Mugello’s iconic San Donato curve at the end of the main straight. The first was on the outside to pass Aldo Festante (Dinamic Motorsport) for fourth place a third of the way into the 30-minute encounter, and then the second, with two and a half minutes remaining, was on Flint Schuring (Enrico Fulgenzi Racing) on the inside for P3 after the safety-car had peeled away. With this result, the MIM-contracted driver notched up his second podium of the year in five races of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia.

“It was a mega race, I’m just so happy for the team, we had a great car for the race,” declared Lirim. “It’s always nice to have a good fight for the podium, especially now I’m finding the way how to drive this car. I’ve never experienced a track where the car changes so fast, and this is what makes it so difficult here. We were a bit lacking in pace for the qualifying but for the race I think we had the fastest car and if we didn’t lose too much time at the beginning, I feel sure we could have fought for the win. This is my first year in GT and I don’t want to put myself down, but I know we can go for the wins and be on the top spot. We must think there is some guy in front of me who has done 200 races and to be able to stay with him, and soon hopefully in front of him is nice.”

The race win went to Marvin Klein (Target Competition), who led all the way from Larry ten Voorde (Enrico Fulgenzi Racing), while Lirim was the top Ombra Racing driver in third. Round 6 of the Carrera Cup Italia at Mugello will get underway tomorrow at 12.20.