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Tigani Motorsport has put in a strong showing in its international competition debut at Highlands 6 Hour.
The Wollongong-based squad crossed the Tasman with two cars for the anniversary event at the iconic Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell, New Zealand, as one of only two Australian teams to make the trip.
On the Valmont Racing side of the garage, Marcel Zalloua and Sergio Pires eased their way into the weekend on board their Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, consistently within the top ten all weekend.
After qualifying 10th, steady progress for the pair, all while still learning the track as the only all-AM driver line-up in the race, saw them finish the 6 Hour in a commendable sixth place outright and fifth in GT3 class.
“For us, the weekend ended well,” said Nathan Tigani, Team Owner.
“On the Valmont side of the garage, Sergio and Marcel, for two guys who didn’t have a pro driver with them and did the full race with just two drivers, they were amazing.”
“To finish sixth outright is an awesome credit to them, the team and the car.”
Over on the Realta side of the garage, Paul Lucchitti, paired with professional racer Luke Youlden, started the weekend strong on board their Mercedes AMG GT3.
The duo were consistently amongst the front runners throughout practice and qualified in fourth place outright for the 6 Hour.
Unfortunately, their run was cut short early in the race when a component within the alternator failed, forcing the team to park the car within the first hour.
“The other side of the garage, the Realta Mercedes, that was heartbreak to have that happen so early on out of nowhere,” Tigani continued.
“We had an alternator failure, and being in another country and only being able to ship across limited spares, unfortunately, Paul and Luke didn’t get to show their true pace during the race.”
“But I reckon, judging from where we were in practice and qualifying, we would have been in the mix at the end.”
Despite the setback on the Realta side of the garage, the team impressed the locals with their professionalism and strong result with the Valmont entry.
The ultimate competitor, team owner Nathan Tigani, is already looking ahead to secure an even better result next time.
“Guess that means we’ll need to come back for some redemption,” Tigani concluded.
Tigani Motorsport will return to Australia ready for the final round of the GT World Challenge Australia on the streets of Adelaide.
