Stratia misses the podium

The crew made up of Arno Santamato, Sacha Lehmann and Florian Scholze kicked off their 2026 Italian GT Endurance Championship campaign at Misano in particularly challenging weather conditions, behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Stratia Motorsport.

Despite the tricky conditions, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo showed constantly improving performance throughout the weekend, along with flawless reliability during the three-hour race. Thanks to a perfectly executed strategy and strong stints from all three drivers, the Santamato / Lehmann / Scholze crew climbed to an impressive 4th place in the GT3 Am category for a large part of the race, demonstrating a pace clearly capable of fighting for the podium.

However, the race turned following two mistakes that resulted in damage and off-track excursions, compounded by a 25-second penalty. These incidents unfortunately dropped the car down the order, despite a top-three finish being well within reach.

After completing 87 laps, the Stratia Motorsport crew ultimately crossed the finish line in 27th place overall and 9th in the GT3 Am category. Beyond the final result, this opening Italian round highlighted the team’s strong potential for improvement thanks to the pace shown, the quality of the race execution, and the competitiveness demonstrated in extremely demanding conditions.

The team will now take all the lessons learned from this first event in order to continue developing and working in the right direction for the upcoming rounds of the championship.