IMSA Wire: Perfect Pairing? Antinucci, Berkeley Teaming up in Super Trofeo

Perfect Pairing? Antinucci, Berkeley Teaming up in Super Trofeo
Dream Racing Motorsport Drivers Will Share the No. 23 Huracán for Rest of Season
August 4, 2022
By Mark Robinson
IMSA Wire Service


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ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – One is a two-time Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America champion. The other is a talented 18-year-old trying to make his mark in the top class of the single-make series. This weekend at Road America, Richard Antinucci and Luke Berkeley will share a car for the first time.Antinucci, the 2019 and ’21 champion in the Pro class, and Berkeley, last year’s Am class champion, are teaming in the No. 23 Dream Racing Motorsport, Lamborghini Broward, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2 at Road America that Berkeley drove solo through the first three doubleheader rounds this season. Antinucci shared a ProAm car with Justin Price for race weekends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and NOLA Motorsports Park but sat out June’s round at Watkins Glen International, where he helped coach Berkeley.The plan is to have the duo complete the season together in the No. 23 – the first time in Berkeley’s young career that he’ll have a co-driver.“I’m definitely looking forward to driving with Richard,” Berkeley said. “It’s something I’ve never done before and I’m super excited. I think we can get good results together. And I have to learn the art of co-driving.”After winning five Am races last season, Berkeley hasn’t fared as well in a Pro class loaded with seasoned drivers this year. His best finish was fourth in the second race at WeatherTech Raceway. He points to some difficulty getting the new Evo2 version of the Huracán set up to his liking as one reason. The extra three seconds he must sit in his pit as a solo driver during the mandatory race pit stop compared to cars with co-drivers doesn’t help either.“This season has definitely been a big learning curve for me,” Berkeley said. “Especially because in the Pro class this year the gap is so small between all of us and being by myself, the three seconds extra on the pit stop makes it really hard to get a good result. … To sit there for three seconds longer than the top guys, I fall behind just naturally.”Antinucci’s raw speed and tenacity behind the wheel will be a boost, Berkeley said, in addition to his knowledge of the car.“Richard has a bunch of experience with the car. It’s challenging to find a good setup, so Richard is certainly someone who can help speed up that process. My goal is to go to GT3 next year so it’s good to get used to co-driving and driver changes and working with someone else – and adapting to maybe a setup change I don’t 100 percent agree with but it’s faster. Doing something that puts me out of my comfort zone and I just have to adapt to it.”Thirty-seven cars are entered this weekend, one more than the series-record 36 that raced at Watkins Glen this June. Class leaders heading into the weekend are: Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal (No. 1 Prestige Performance with Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus Huracán) in Pro; Ashton Harrison and Tom Long (No. 25 Harrison Contracting with Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus Huracán) in ProAm; David Staab and Nikko Reger (No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach Huracán) in Am; and Slade Stewart (No. 14 Flying Lizard Motorsports, Lamborghini Newport Beach Huracán) in LB Cup.The 50-minute races start at 10:50 a.m. ET Saturday and 2:55 p.m. Sunday. Each airs live on IMSA.com/TVLive and IMSA Radio.