Maximilian Götz and Christian Mansell claimed the third consecutive pole position for Team Motopark at the International GT Open’s Monza 500 race meeting.
It is a back-to-back pole at the 500-kilometre endurance fixture for the Mercedes-AMG factory driver, who, with Mansell, helped put the #71 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the top of the average lap times. Together, the #71 Motopark Mercedes-AMG pairing aim to redeem themselves from their woes at Hockenheim and take a second win since the Spa 500 round.
Götz/Mansell managed a 1:44.452 from their two fastest lap times, narrowly beating the #33 Greystone GT McLaren GT3 Evo of Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald, who set an average of 1:44.575.
“We repeated what we already did in Spa and also last year; Levente [Révész] and I were on pole,” said Götz. “So it was great to be up here again on the front row. I think this is a great opportunity starting from the front.”
“We’ve optimised to [keep the championship fight alive],” added Mansell. “An excellent session for Maxi and myself. Really happy with it and how it went, but it’s such an important part now in this stage in the championship to just try to claw back some points, and that’s what we’ll try and do.”
Scuderia Villorba Corse is aiming for their second win after their maiden victory at Hockenheim. Rodrigo Testa and Leonardo Moncini recorded an average lap time of 1:44.691 in their #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 to go third-fastest.
Pietro Armanni and his #911 ZRS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo teammate Alex Fontana took fourth place with a 1:44.715 ahead of the fifth-placed #17 Elite Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Tom Lebbon/Emson (1:45.022). Nikita Mazepin and Cesar Gazeau put the #99 Motopark Mercedes-AMG in sixth (1:45.051), followed by GT Open debutants Faems – Nova Race with an average of 1:45.208 by Italian duo Giuseppe Forenzi and Ian Rodriguez in the #66 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
Marcelo Ramírez and Dominik Baumann qualified eighth in the #28 Motopark Mercedes-AMG (1:45.218).
Blackthorn took their second Pro-Am class pole position with Charles Bateman and 2023 GT Open champion Henrique Chaves, after an average of 1:45.265 in the #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
Rafael Durán and Tomasco Mosca took 10th position in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari (1:45.560) ahead of the team’s #96 Ferrari pairing Yaroslav Vesalaho and Lorenzo Ferrari (1:45.593). Al Faizal Al Zubair and Dennis Marshall were 12th in the #707 Al Manar by Dragon Racing Ferrari (1:45.748), which undertook a gearbox change for today.
Second in Pro-Am, 13th outright, was the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche of Alexander Schwarzer and Alexander Fach with their 1:45.876 average. Fellow Pro-Am rivals Team ISR start behind them after Filip Salaquarda and Libor Milota’s
1:45.934 average in the #75 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2.
Brendon Leitch and Nicolas Stati (1:46.025) were 15th overall in the debuting Leipert Motorsport #70 Lamborghini, with Stati having clashed momentarily with James Kell’s #88 Track Focused McLaren at the Seconda Variante.
CBRX by SPS took third in Pro-Am with a 1:46.079 by Dexter Müller/Yannick Mettler in the #54 Mercedes-AMG.
AF Corse claimed Am class pole position after Rey Acosta/Marco Bonanomi’s 1:46.226 average in the #107 Ferrari.
The Monza 500 will kick off tomorrow, Sunday 27 September at 12:30 CEST.
Image courtesy of FotoSpeedy/GT Sport
