The #9 Prema Racing squad continued their dominant form with a near faultless race to win the 2022 45 Hours of Monza, a third win out of four races.
After a chaotic start to the race that saw the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari into the wall at T2 after contact, then a spin from the #27 Cool Racing Ligier that also took out the #3 United Ligier, the then leading pair were caught and passed by Ferdinand Habsburg in the #9, the #9 never headed thereafter with its two closest challengers, the #65 Panis Racing and #37 Cool Racing Orecas both picking up time penalties for pitstop infringements, and, in the case of the Panis car, a starting procedure infringement, that made their tasks all the harder.
Aside from a brief period in Lorenzo Columbo’s stint that saw the lead gap shrink as the less experienced racer adapted to the then stint-old rubber the result never truly looked in doubt and by the time that Louis Deletraz took the wheel the task was to manage the by, then a comfortable gap, Prema Racing crossing the line 20+ seconds back with a penalty still to be added, and the Cool Racing effort fading late in the race after a longer stop in the second half of the race for a replacement nose section after contact in traffic.
Fourth was the #22 United Autosports car with the car seeming to lack edge to its pace throughout the race compared to its principal opposition.
Prema will go to Spa with a significant points lead, Panis Racing up to second in the points with United now third after previously second placed IDEC’s day was sailed with a significant delay after Paul Lafargue made a mistake under braking into T1 when running well-up, the #28 into the wall, struggling back to the pits and eventually rejoining but finishing only 13th.
The brand new chassis for Inter Europol Competition ran well up early on, Pietro Fittipaldi holding station in the top four before a mid-race water leak saw the car lose over none minutes before repairs could be completed.
The #19 Algarve Pro Racing effort’s race was ruined before it began after a team error saw the car stranded on pit lane, too late to join the grid. A spin for Bent Visceral after some stellar lap times, after being nerfed from the rear by a GTE car made the tag in hand even tougher, the Dutchman and Sophia Floersch coming home in 12th after starting a full lap down.
LMP2 Pro-Am saw some fine battling throughout for significant positions before Alessio Rovera stormed through to secure the class win for the #88 AF Corse crew and put them back into title contention with Francois Perrodo and Nicklas Nielsen.
Salih Yoluc drove well from the start, almost taking the lead with a bold move up the inside from row two, too bold as it turned out as he was dealt an identical penalty to the pole-sitting Pins Oreca, both cars starting by running down the middle of the track rather than the proscribed run to the start line over the grid hatchings.
Thereafter there was scrapping galore amongst the class leaders, with plenty of interaction with the midfield runners in the overall LMP2 class for good measure.
Jack Aitken looked set to get the #34 back into podium contention for a while but the challenge faded leaving the #24 Nielsen Racing and #47 Algarve Pro Racing cars to complete the podium after winning out in seemingly race-long, nose-to-tail battles.
LMP3 saw a second consecutive win for the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Charles Crews, Nico Pino and Guilherme Oliveira, Crews starting very strongly to put the car in contention, the following pair staying there as others altered though a lack of discipline from Pino almost cost them dear, several cuttings of the track at T15 punished not with a drive through but rather a post race 10 second time penalty, that was enough to seal the race win from the #4 DKR Engineering Duqueine crew, a drive-through would have seen the places reversed!
Completing the podium was the #17 Cool Racing Ligier, enough for the Mo Smith, Mikey Benham and Malthe Jakobsen combo to retain a slim Championship lead over the #13 after a fighting display that saw an early race drive-through offset by pace from all three drivers, in particular the young Dane, though by the time he climbed aboard a combination of strategy and the timing of cautions, had left anything better than third effectively out of reach.
Also scoring well the weekend was the #6 360 Racing Ligier, the car running second overall Conti eep into the race when the pit stop strategies wind out, fourth still a good result for the returning team.
GTE served up a cracker, the win eventually going to the #77 Proton Competition Porsche with Gianmaria Bruni bringing the car back to the front and home after an excellent opening spell from Christie Ried and a supporting role from Lorenzo Ferrari.
Ried had got away initially from a chasing pack that included a strong start from Michael Fassbender, the Irish/ German having one of his best ELMS spells to grab an early second position and then fend off Ahmad Al Harthy in the #69 Oman Racing by TF Sport Aston Martin and Giacomo Petrobelli in the #66 JMW Ferrari.
The Ferrari would finally find a way around the Aston Martin but Petrobelli’s next move was a clumsy one, going for a non-existent gap and turning the #93 around, a secondary contact seeing front bodywork damage that would later cost the #93 time. The effort would fade to an eventual 8th place finish.
The #69 would also hit trouble, or rather would hit the #57 Kessel Ferrari causing significant front-end damage to the Vantage, and none whatsoever to the Ferrari, the repairs would drop the Aston Martin to the tail of the field.
There was damage too for the #60 Ferrari, a clash with an LMP car leading the Iron Lynx car requiring a new left-hand door.
The #57 would find itself at the front of a fast-moving train in the final phase of the race trying to get onto terms with the podium contending cars ahead. Mikkel Jensen would finally come home fourth ahead of the #18 Absolute Racing Porsche, 60 Iron Lynx Ferrari and the #95 Oma Racing/ TF Sport Vantage.
That left the final two podium slots to be fought out by a pair of Ferraris, Duncan Cameron doing a stellar job in putting his #55 Spirit of Race 488 GT3 into the lead and ahead of the charging #66 JMW Ferrari. Matt Griffin and David Perel combined to keen the #55 at the sharp end though Perel had no answer to Bruni’s late-race pace.
The final podium slot saw the best result of the season for the #66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari, Petrobelli’s somewhat physical doing spell roving to be very effective, Seca Hudspeth having a much better middle stint than we have seen thus far this season and the guesting Miguel Molina showing trademark pace and grit to secure a highly deserved podium.
Round five (of six) takes place at Spa Francorchamps on 25 September.
