Team WRT finished 1-2 in the penultimate round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Monza, after a chaotic three-hour race saw both cars make seven pitstops.
The #30 BMW M4 GT3 of Sam De Haan, Ahmad Al Harthy and Jens Klingmann, and the #32 of Sheldon van der Linde, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor, both sustained damage on the opening lap. They each made multiple pit stops under the opening Safety Car period to make repairs without losing the lead lap, putting them off-strategy and using up some of their mandatory timed pit stops early.
This enabled them to have a shorter final pit stop, and Vanthoor emerged from his in the effective lead with 11 minutes to go. Vanthoor, however, ran wide out of Turn 2 on his out lap as he fought Max Hofer in the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS Gt3 Evo II for track position, enabling Klingmann to get through.
Despite the best efforts of a hard-charging Alessandro Pier Guidi in the pole-sitting #51 AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors Ferrari 296 GT3 – who made a failed attempt at passing Vanthoor on the final lap – Team WRT held on for a 1-2, headed by the Bronze Cup-entered #30.
It’s Team WRT’s first Endurance Cup win since switching from Audi to BMW machinery, and the first overall win for a lower-class car in Endurance Cup history.
“I don’t even know how that happened,” said Klingmann. “I was just focused on the Bronze class and then they said I was P2 overall [behind the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R, which still needed to pit]. It was tough to the end, but with our car the strategy was outstanding.”
“For once, we had a race where we could do a little bit of strategy,” added WRT’s Vincent Vosse. “The drivers did a perfect job, no mistakes, and this gave us the opportunity. I’m very happy for them!”
After starting the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3 from pole position, Alessio Rovera held onto the lead on the opening lap, as contact between Mercedes-AMG Team MANN-Filter’s Lucas Auer, Comtoyou Racing’s Mattia Drudi and van der Linde in the fight for second saw all three cars go off at Turn 1.
We are racing at Monza – but not for long as contact at the first chicane and another clash at Roggia brings out the safety car.
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Ayhancan Güven in Schumacher CLRT’s #22 Porsche 911 GT3.R (992) was able to move up to second, with Raffaele Marciello taking third from seventh on the grid in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3. Auer and Drudi were able to resume in the Top 10, with van der Linde falling back to 45th after his pit stops for repairs. The biggest casualty of the incident was the #2 M-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which was forced to retire after sustaining damage in the ensuing melee.
A separate incident at Turn 4 eliminated the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG, #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche and #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche.
At the opening round of pit stops, Rovera made way for Vincent Abril, whilst behind Team WRT were able to pass Schumacher CLRT in the pits as they installed Valentino Rossi and Kévin Estre respectively. Estre took second place back from Rossi and began closing in on Abril, only to spin into the gravel at Ascari after running wide on entry.
A second Safety Car was brought out when Garage 59’s #158 McLaren GT3 Evo ground to a halt shortly before the halfway mark. Everyone took the opportunity to pit under the Full Course Yellow which preceded the Safety Car, with Team WRT electing to stop twice so Rossi could give way to Maxime Martin.
On the restart, contact between Jef Machiels in the #52 AF Corse 296 GT3 and Mateo Llarena in the #19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 resulted in terminal damage to both cars and a third Safety Car period, under which Team WRT would take the chance to pit Al Harthy and Weerts to make way for Klingmann and Vanthoor. It was too early to make it to the end without needing another stop, but thanks to their extra pit stops earlier in the race the final one wouldn’t need to meet the minimum pit stop time.
When the race resumed with under an hour to go, Abril led from Dan Harper in the #998 ROWE Racing M4 GT3 and Marco Mapelli in the #163 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2, with Martin in fourth.
Abril pitted to hand over to Pier Guidi with 49 minutes to go, whilst their additional stop under the second Safety Car meant the #46 Team WRT BMW completed a shorter final pit stop and overcut the Ferrari as Martin made way for Rossi. Pier Guidi then set about overtaking Maro Engel in the #48 Team MANN-Filter AMG GT3 Evo, Rossi and Hofer as he tried to salvage victory on home soil, but he ran out of time to find his way past the pair of Team WRT BMWs.
Fourth place went to the #99 Tresor Attempto Racing R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, which attempted a similar strategy to the winning car, ahead of Team WRT’s #46 M4 GT3.
Boutsen VDS’ #9 AMG GT3 Evo finished sixth, ahead of the #991 Paradine Competition M4 GT3 and #911 Pure Rxcing 911 GT3.R.
Ninth and Silver Cup victory went to Winward Racing’s Colin Caresani, Tanart Sathienthirakul and Daan Arrow. They also secured the class title with a race to spare aboard the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. GRT Grasser Racing Team’s #163 Huracan GT3 Evo2 rounded out the top 10.
Arjun Maini, Michele Beretta and Jusuf Owega took a commanding victory for Haupt Racing Team in the Gold Cup, as its #77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was the only car in the class to have a clean run. Second went to the #25 Saintéloc Racing Audi, which lost a lap early on following damage sustained on Lap One, ahead of the #21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin which was leading before a puncture in the middle hour.
After their involvement in the Lap 1 incident, the championship-leading #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin was further delayed when Drudi was forced to reset the car during the opening stint. Drudi, Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim finished 24th and had their advantage reduced to 3 points over Pier Guidi, Rovera and the #99 crew of Alex Aka, Christopher Haase and Ricardo Feller.
After winning here last year, it was a disappointing race for ROWE Racing. Its #98 M4 GT3 failed to start due to damage sustained in qualifying, whilst the sister #998 had to make an extra stop in the final hour due to a loose wheel.
The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season concludes with a six-hour event at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit at the end of November, but before then is the Sprint Cup finale at Barcelona on 12/13 October.
Images courtesy of GT World Challenge Europe/JEP
