Race ace Middleton ready to take on another Italian job

Struart Middleton, who is preparing for another season of racing in Italy.

The Ashington racer will return to the Imperiale team for a second year driving a Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

He will reunite with Alberto Di Folco for the Sprint series title challenge and also remains part of Lamborghini GT3 Junior Programme.

Middleton, who was runner-up in his first season of Endurance racing in 2021 with Di Folco and Andrea Amici secured one race victory and two other podiums from the four rounds and the trio were tantalisingly close to winning the coveted GT3 title during the season finale at Monza.

Middleton was also drafted in by Imperiale for selected outings in the Sprint Championship last season, taking a Pro-Am class podium on his series debut as team-mate to Mateo Llarena at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. On his second outing in the Sprint category, an all-but guaranteed victory went awry after Llarena was hit by a rival with just two laps to go.

Having impressed both Imperiale and Lamborghini during his debut season in the ultra-competitive Italian GT categories, 22-year-old Middleton is now relishing the opportunity to be back in the Sprint series this year and has only one goal – to win the championship title.

“I’m super excited to be back with Imperiale this year in the Italian GT Sprint Championship, and especially with Alberto as my team-mate once again – it’s a mega opportunity”, said the North East Caravans backed racer, “Looking at our pace from last year, I think we can say we’ve got a pretty good shot at the title. We’ll keep our feet on the ground though, concentrate and work hard.

“Obviously it’ll be my second year in GT3, so we’ll have a much stronger chance of challenging for the championship with everything I learnt last season – and we weren’t far away from winning the Endurance title in 2021. It’s always better when you have a second year in the same car, especially in a championship as super competitive as Italian GT Sprint with factory drivers and top teams.

“It’s amazing to be continuing as part of the Lamborghini GT3 Junior Programme for another year as well, and I’d like to thank everyone at Lamborghini for the opportunity.”