Orange 1 FFF Racing Team has been in contention for the Endurance Cup title of the 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS until the very end. The  Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the battleground for the last round of the year, where the Chinese squad confirmed once again its big potential with the #63 Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo.

Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli ended the 3-hour race in 4th position, after some setbacks prevented them to repeat their Nürburgring victory and to secure enough points to clinch the championship.

On Sunday morning’s qualifying, the Lamborghini Factory Drivers set the fastest average time in 1’44″814, but they lost a possible fourth pole position of the season after receiving a three-place grid penalty, as Bortolotti was deemed having ignored a yellow flag during the Q1 segment.

Mapelli started the afternoon race as fourth, then he soon stepped up into third position. Caldarelli was at the wheel during the second stint, when he had to serve a drive-through penalty for a collision with a slower, lapped car. The #63 Lamborghini slipped to 13th position as a consequence, but Caldarelli and Bortolotti were able to gain ground thanks to a strong pace. In the final stint, Bortolotti retook the fourth position, taking advantage of two safety-car moments in his recovery.

With this result, the Bortolotti/Caldarelli/Mapelli trio finished the 2021 season as fourth in the standings with a 73 points tally, while Orange 1 FFF Racing Team was fourth among the teams.

Phil Keen and Hiroshi Hamaguchi, driving the #19 Lamborghini with Stefano Costantini, were in the fight for the Pro-Am title, but they faced a tough task since the beginning of the race, after a contact and two drive-through penalties in the early stages. Keen and Hamaguchi closed the season as fourth in the class standings with 74 points.

Fu Songyang, Team Owner Orange1 FFF Racing Team
“We came here in Barcelona aiming to collect both the Overall and the Pro-Am Endurance Cup titles, but things didn’t go in our way this weekend. Mirko, Andrea and Marco showed one more time they were the fastest crew on the grid, despite a post-qualifying penalty prevented our #63 Lamborghini to start again from pole. During the first half of the race we were on the provisional podium, but that drive-through cost us a lot. Still, Andrea and Mirko recovered to fourth. It was a great performance, despite not being enough to repeat our 2019 title. Our title hunt turned difficult in the Pro-Am class as well, but Phil, Hiroshi and Stefano didn’t give up until the chequered flag. Now we want to congratulate our rivals and we’re already working to be even stronger in 2022”.

For any furher information, please contact:
Antonio Caruccio
press@fff-racing-group.com