Tresor Attempto Racing celebrates an overall victory in the GT World Challenge Europe round at Monza – a race that was chaotic from the start. The #66 Audi started in P29, after which Ariel Levi, Sebastian Ogaard and Rocco Mazzola took the win. A big start crash caused heartbreak for both HRT Mustangs, which were knocked out before the first lap was finished.

The race started with a typical Monza flair of absolute chaos as multiple cars wanted to get a jump on each other for the first chicane. As soon as it was green, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo seemed to get tapped into a spin by the #17 Mercedes-AMG GT3 , hitting the #10 Boutsen VDS Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo. The #59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Garage 59 was hit too, taking the #7 Aston Martin AMR Vantage GT3 Evo with him over the grass.

The McLaren and the Aston spun back onto the track in the Prima Variante, instantly knocking pole sitter #64 HRT Mustang and the #80 Lionspeed Porsche – who had a great start – out of the race. It resulted in a carnage of more than eight cars, after which the safety car was deployed by race control. Mercedes-AMG benefitted from the chaos and took the lead with the #17 Mercedes of Maxime Martin, with Maro Engel slotting into P2.

Alessio Picariello managed the chaos nicely, keeping his #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche in P3. Behind him was Dani Juncadella, but the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 was clearly damaged on the right side. He had to do everything to keep Max Lynn in the #23 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo behind him.

After 25 minutes the field more or less stabilized, however Giacomo Petrobelli in the #56 Aston Martin had a train of cars behind him that he needed to shake off. The #35 Aston Martin was on his tail the whole time, with the #17 WRT BMW looking for possibilities to overtake as well. An exciting fight followed, with Ralf Ineichen in the #60 Ferrari being the first one to get past.

Race control announced a three-minute stop and go penalty for causing a collision for Martin meanwhile, who was building up his lead at the front of the pack. He had a gap of 1.2 seconds over Engel, while both Mercedes-AMG drivers seemed to be managing their race. Juncadella was five seconds behind the top three with his damaged car, but was 1.5 seconds in front of Lynn – having some room to breathe.

#111 Lamborghini triggers FCY, Verstappen Racing out again

Just before the first hour was done, Martin went into the pitlane for his pit stop and to serve his penalty, resulting in Engel taking the lead with Picariello still in the #2 Porsche behind him. Lynn crawled closer to Juncadella again, hunting down the Spaniard in the damaged Mercedes-AMG GT3 for P4. He wasn’t on his own, as Klymenko in the #25 Audi was on the prowl as well.

The race was briefly interrupted by a Full Course Yellow due to the #111 Lamborghini being in the gravel at turn 9. 2 Seas Motorsport meanwhile worked on the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Verstappen Racing, which had significant damage on both sides of the car. More cars took the opportunity to make a pit stop during the FCY period, while Engel and Picariello remained on track for another lap, maximizing their stint time of 57 minutes.

The #48 Mercedes with Luca Stolz now behind the wheel took the lead again, with Dorian Boccolacci in P2 – after taking over the car from Picariello. The #32 BMW M4 GT3 Evo continued with Jordan Pepper, creating new opportunities for the München-based marque which seemed to miss some pace earlier in the weekend.

Not long after slotting into P3, WRT let the #32 BMW make a fourth pit stop, dropping Pepper to P10. Team RJN took a provisional P3 with Horatio Fitz-Simon in the car. Meanwhile the #2 Boutsen VDS Porsche was crawling closer to race leader Stolz, making it a three-way fight for provisional P1. Fitz-Simon was, however, told to follow the guys in front of him, getting instructions to take no risks that would throw away the Silver Cup win they were targeting.

The #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Verstappen Racing was out before the halfway mark, after a trip through the gravel at Ascari for Chris Lulham. He had to park the car on the side with some fumes coming from the back, meaning a definite end of the race for the crew. A tough one to swallow after the N24 probably, as the pace was good.

Safety car comes out as Razoon Porsche hits gravel

Halfway in the #914 Razoon Porsche drove into the gravel on the exit of Lesmo 2, causing a long FCY. Boccolacci went into the pitlane at the 44th minute of his stint – not having reached the maximum driving time yet, meaning he would continue for another thirteen minutes. The FCY transformed into a full safety car ten minutes later.

The #48 Mercedes also went for a pit stop, putting Lucas Auer in the car and returning to the track in P28. Pepper, still in the #32 BMW, led the field behind the safety car, having the Boutsen Porsche on his tail. With 68 minutes to go, the race restarted, with Pepper holding onto the lead.

Dörr was told by his team that his pace was great, resulting in some new found speed to chase down the #2 Boutsen Porsche further. With 49 minutes to go, Pepper and Boccolacci both went into the pitlane to hand the car over to respectively Kelvin van der Linde and Morris Schuring. This put Dörr in race lead, but the #23 McLaren still needed to do a third pit stop.

Late race chaos causes sprint to the end

Chaos interrupted the race again in the last twenty minutes, with the #222 Mercedes spilling oil and stopping in the first chicane, fire coming from the side of the car. At the same time, the #44 McLaren experienced issues, returning to the track safely after. Dörr went for the last pit stop of the #23 McLaren just before the Full Course Yellow, loosing the Silver race lead to the #66 Audi.

With 11 minutes on the clock, race control deployed the safety car, benefitting the cars that lost some ground during the pit stops. The SC period lasted about three minutes before the race was green again for a sprint to the end. Marvin Dienst was all over the #66 Audi, attempting to overtake in the first chicane but driving over the kerbs and losing ground.

Dörr got pushed wide by Auer, taking a short trip to the gravel and dropping behind the #25 Audi and back to P3 in the Silver Cup. The incident was noted by the race stewards while Auer continued his charge to the front of the field. Dienst was meanwhile told to let Auer by, but he was knocked out of the race during the crash in Prima Variante again.

Another safety car was deployed in the last four minutes as multiple cars were involved in the incident, securing the win for the #66 Audi. The overall results are completed by Auer in P2 and Lecertua in P3, of the #555 McLaren.

The #71 Ferrari took the win for the Gold Cup, with the #58 McLaren in P2 and the #24 Steller Motorsports Chevrolet in P3. The Silver Cup win goes to the #66 Audi, with the #555 Audi in P2 and the #23 McLaren in P3. Team RJN had a remarkable race where the win was possible, but unfortunately it didn’t go their way in the end.

The #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari wins in the Bronze Cup, where the #56 Aston Martin and the #42 BMW complete the podium. These results are provisional, as race control still has a lot of work to do.

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