Having inherited third place in Saturday’s opening Porsche Carrera Cup Italia race at Vallelunga due to penalties, today’s second encounter saw Ombra Racing’s Lirim Zendeli pick up another podium placement after Larry Ten Voorde (Enrico Fulgenzi Racing) was once again penalized for an over-enthusiastic contact with Marvin Klein (Target Competition). This time Lirim was able to physically step onto the podium for a well-deserved third place after another hard-fought race.

Monaco Increase Management’s GT Rookie driver started fourth on the grid behind Ten Voorde, Janne Stiak and Klein, and although the young German was passed by Diego Bertonelli (Driving Experience) on the opening lap, the contact between Ten Voorde and Klein dropped the Frenchman back, allowing Lirim to conclude the opening lap in fourth place.

From then on, his main aim was to make sure that his closest Rookie rival Francesco Braschi, P7 on the grid, remained behind him, and in this he was helped in no short measure by his Ombra Racing teammate Keagan Masters who held off the pressure of the Italian to keep him in eighth place throughout the 30-minute + 1 lap race.

The positions remained the same until the safety-car came out with five minutes remaining, and when it released the Porsches for a one-lap dash to the line, Zendeli kept Flynt Schuring (Enrico Fulgenzi Racing) at bay to take P4 on the road and P3 overall for his fourth podium of the season.

“Finally, it was a calm race for me today!” declared Lirim on the podium. “I mean, I had a lot of pressure from Schuring, but I was able to keep him behind me. We didn’t have optimal pace today, and we were lacking like a tenth or two on average per lap but I still had a great confidence with my Porsche and so I was not scared to make any mistakes or anything like that. I could keep behind the other guys, but I couldn’t keep up with the front guys, they were just faster than me today and I have to take the result. I’m just happy about the podium and to be leading the rookie championship by some so many points now.”

Following this weekend’s results in which he twice finished ahead of Braschi, Lirim has increased his points lead in the Rookies’ classification, with the final PCCI round remaining, at Monza on 5/6 October.