Martin Kodrić and Ethan Simioni took victory at Monza this afternoon in the International GT Open handing a debut victory in the series to 2 Seas Motorsport. Driving a Mercedes-AMG GT3, the pair hit the front after the pit stops and never looked back.

INTERNATIONAL GT OPEN MONZA: RACE 1 REPORT | RACE 2 REPORT

At the start, Michele Beretta in the #63 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 and Marco Bonanomi in the #18 Reno Racing Honda NSX GT3 got away well although some shortcuts had to be taken to negotiate the first chicane safely. As the field sorted itself out, Ollie Millroy in the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720s GT3 had to pit at the end of lap 3 after contact at the start of the lap with Baptiste Moulin in the #19 sister Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini left the McLaren with significant body damage.

Millroy was able to get out again at the back of the field but the repairs to the car weren’t sufficient and he lost the door on the exit of Curva Grande, forcing another pit stop to fit a new door. Co-driver Brendan Iribe did manage to get out in the McLaren but two laps down which was a better result than Moulin who retired on lap two.

Following a short safety car period to recover the #100 Bonaldi Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 Cup of Jakub Dwernicki, Kodrić who had made his way up to third place, made the most of a minor error by Bonanomi at the second chicane which was enough for the Croatian to squeeze through into the first Lesmo. Kodrić then stayed out the longest to push some quick laps prior to stopping.

When Canadian Simioni took over from Kodrić at the halfway stage, he was comfortably able to exit the pit lane in first place.

In the last 15 minutes Frederik Schandorff in the #63 Lamborghini started to close the gap from third place to Jacopo Guidetti in the #18 Honda and took second place from the young Italian into the first chicane. Guidetti was held up by slower traffic and Schandorff took full advantage of the traffic jam and dived up the inside of the Italian.

He then set about chasing down Simioni but with insufficient time left on the clock the championship leader had to settle for second place with Guidetti taking third.

 
 

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