Luca's own pitstop came at the 26th Lap. By then, just before he boxed, he had climbed up to P2 after Jimmy Damgaard, who had left for the pits earlier, abandoned his post. Jimmy had no real fight left in him the moment DiMarco—now running P5—announced he had the right tire warmth and momentum to push hard.
At P2, Luca entertained the thought that maybe, just maybe, he could snatch P1 if Luigi decided to pit or leave the track any moment now. But it turned out Squadra Corse had been planning their strategy well, or perhaps it was just coincidence that they had scheduled Luigi for a pitstop on the same window as Luca.
And so, three solid seconds ahead, Luigi peeled into the pitlane at the start of Lap 26, and Luca followed after, clinging to the tiny hope of beating him out first with a perfect execution of Pitstop Prodigy.
[System Update: Pitlane Entry Detected]
[Speed Limit: 80 km/h]
[System's prediction: 11 sec—13 sec]
