GT4 European Series - Round 5 - Audi sweeps up the Temple of Speedcar

The penultimate round of the GT4 European Series took us to the historic Temple of Speed in northern Italy, where stunning weather treated us to a spectacular weekend of racing.

THE TEMPLE OF SPEED

The penultimate round of the 2024 GT4 European Series was highly anticipated, after a two month break from GT4 action across the best European tracks, and with that came a couple of entry list changes.

Many of the entry list changes featured a Porsche for the fifth round of the 2024 season, seeing Moroccan driver Suleiman Zanfari join Leo Pichler in the #22 Allied-Racing Porsche Cayman GT4. Meanwhile a couple of drivers switched from Aston Martin machinery to the Cayman at Monza, including Fabio Rauer joining Alon Gabby in the #31 W&S Motorsport entry, and Raphael Rennhofer joining Emil Heyerdahl in the #92 Wimmer Work Motorsport car. Eric Scalvini and Max Wimmer entered a third car from the Austrian Wimmer Werk Motorsport team, driving the #71 entry in the Pro-Am class.

Slovenian registered team Lema Racing joined the series with a Mercedes-AMG GT4, where Slovenian driver Mark Kastelic paired up with Finnish driver Elias Niskanen in the #119 Pro-Am car.

Both PROsport Racing Aston Martin’s weren’t present at Monza, as well as the W&D Racing Team BMW M4 GT4, where the round would’ve been their ‘home’ race, originating from the microstate of San Marino.

QUALIFYING

The qualifying session was fairly uneventful, where the only notable moment was an incident involving the #39 car of Racing Spirit of Léman driven by Brazilian driver Roberto Faria. The Aston Martin went into the gravel and then spun exiting Variante Ascari and made contact with the barriers. The car was stranded on the side of the road until the end of the first qualifying session, after which it was removed by crane and brought back to the garage. The car would play no further part in the second qualifying session, nor would it start the first race later that day.

Chasing title contenders of Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani in the #3 Team Speedcar Audi R8 LMS GT4 would claim pole for race one, followed by the Pro-Am #812 RAFA Racing Team McLaren Artura GT4, and the championship leaders of Josh Rattican and Tom Lebbon in third. Lariche and Consani would start race two on pole position, with the Rattican and Lebbon McLaren sitting behind in second.

Photo: SRO/JEP

RACE 1

Per usual at Monza, the first race started off with a safety car after the two cars of #11 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport and #60 Razoon-more than racing went off at Variante del Rettifilo. Both cars were standing still in the runoff as the safety car was promptly called. The safety car returned to the pits after thirteen minutes and racing resumed. 

Just ten minutes later we got a full course yellow after Andy Cantu in the #16 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT4 made contact with Alexandre Machado in the #74 Racing Spirit of Léman car, with the Mercedes going into the gravel at Variante Ascari. This unfortunately delayed the pit window, due to the recovery effort taking longer than expected, resulting in another safety car to be called, but only lasting three minutes.

Ten minutes later it was time for another yellow flag to be waved, this time after a collision between two Porsche Caymans of the #4 AV Racing, and the #44 Allied-Racing entries at Variante del Rettifilo. The Allied Racing Porsche of Maksymilian Angelard was stranded after the collision and this resulted in the yellow flag being turned into a full course yellow, which lasted approximately three minutes.

With just five minutes remaining, Jean-Laurent Navarro in the #46 JSB Competition Porsche Cayman made an ambitious move on the inside at turn one on Rafael Martinez in the #812 RAFA Racing Team McLaren Artura GT4. A safety car was called that same lap, and unfortunately Martinez was unable to finish the race, and was classified in P38. Race one finished under safety car conditions, with pole sitters in the #3 Team Speedcar Audi taking the victory, with the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes in second, and the #82 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin rounding out the podium.

Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub in the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin took the victory in the Pro-Am class, with the #30 W&S Motorsport Porsche second, and the #27 Nova Racing Porsche in third. Meanwhile in the AM class, Jean-Mathieu Leandri took the win in the #33 CHAZEL Technologie Course Alpine A110 GT4, with championship leaders finishing second in class.​

Photo: SRO/JEP

RACE 2

As tradition in the GT4 European Series, safety cars make a return on lap one due to Daniel Nilsson in the #27 Nova Racing Porsche Cayman going off at Variante della Roggia, with the famous chicanes at Monza claiming yet another victim this weekend. The race resumed just a few minutes later, with Robert Consani building his lead over Tom Lebbon in the McLaren Artura. Jamie Day in the #82 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin attempted a move on the outside of Marco Signoretti in the #61 Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang GT4, which ended up with Day going onto the grass, and having to take the escape route at turn one.

Just fifteen minutes after racing resumed, another full course yellow, then safety car was called due to Hans Holmlund in the #90 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra GT4 being beached in the gravel at Variante Ascari. The accident was caused by Cindy Gudet in the #66 Matmut Evolution Toyota Supra hip checking the sister Supra heading into the Ascari complex. The #66 was subsequently issued a ten second time penalty to be served during the pitstop as incident responsibility.  Once again, Consani got a great restart, leaving the two Elite Motorsport McLaren Artura’s to battle it out with each other, which could have serious repercussions on the championship.

Just a few short minutes later the Signoretti in the #61 Ford Mustang from Academy Motorsport was spun around by Nico Verdonck in the #1 TeamFloral-Vanspringel Mustang at turn one, which caused a short yellow flag. Signoretti lost thirty-one positions from this contact, dropping to thirty-sixth after being in the top five. Almost immediately after the yellow flag was removed Max Bird in the #96 Mahiki Racing Lotus Emira GT4 was off track at Variante della Roggia, but continued.

As the pit window opened, many back-running cars decided to take the first opportunity, however the leading group of GT4’s stayed out on track in order to achieve the overcut. Meanwhile just a few minutes before the pit window was closed, there was contact between Pascal Huteau and Nicolaj Møller Madsen in the #55 Schumacher CLRT Alpine and #91 Wimmer Werk Motorsport Porsche respectively. Localised yellow flags covered the stranded Alpine, but racing continued.

An incredible battle between Josh Rattican and Benjamin Lariche ensued after the pit stops, with the #78 Elite Motorsport McLaren coming out ahead of the pole position Team Speedcar Audi. Rattican tried to hold on to the lead for as long as possible, but with just twenty minutes remaining Lariche was able to get past, and slot himself back in the lead of the race.

At a moment when we thought the rest of the race would remain clear, with ten minutes to go, a full course yellow was called for the beached #31 Porsche Cayman GT4 from W&S Motorsport at Variante Ascari, with Alon Gabbay at the wheel. Once Gabbay was pulled out of the gravel, he continued on his way, however the safety car was called. The #119 Lema Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 had a punctured front left tyre, and parked up at the Variante della Roggia. During the safety car, it was shown that the #60 Porsche Cayman GT4 from Razoon-more than racing was off in the tyre barrier at Curva Parabolica. Safety car remained out, but came in just a few minutes later, allowing the cars to finish under green flag.

Race two seemed to be the race of attrition, with another retirement coming from the #33 CHAZEL Technologie Course of Jean-Mathieu Leandri pulling off at Variante Ascari, however the race remained green.

With just a minute left on the clock, the race was called with a full course yellow, due to an incident on the pit straight. It seemed that the #74 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin had hit an armco barrier, and sputtered debris across the start finish straight. It was later reported on the official GT4 European Series X account that the driver, Alexandre Machado was taken to hospital as a precaution. The Endurance Chaps send best wishes for Machado’s recovery.

Photo: SRO/JEP

Team Speedcar managed to sweep the Monza weekend, winning the second race beating the #78 McLaren Artura from Elite Motorsport. The podium in race two would be an exact replica from race one, with the #82 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin of Jamie Day and Matteo Villagomez rounding out on the third step.

Porsche dominated in the Pro-Am class, with the win going to Max Kronberg and Finn Zulauf in the #30 W&S Motorsport entry. Noam Abramczyk and Paul Petit came second in the #75 AV Racing Porsche, and Eric Scalvini and Max Wimmer in the #71 Wimmer Werk Motorsport coming third.

AM honours went to Andy Cantu and Charles Dawson in the #16 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT4, and despite the Schumacher CLRT #55 Alpine retiring from race two, they claim the AM championship with two races to go at Jeddah in November.

CHAMPIONSHIP DECIDER

The final round of the GT4 European Series takes us to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia and its inaugural race weekend in SRO. This sees the first time the GT4 European Series visits a street circuit since 2016 when they went to Circuit de Pau-Ville in France.

Tom Lebbon and Joshua Rattican lead the silver class with 161 points, Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche are chasing down the pair of Elite Motorsport drivers, only 32 points behind. In the Pro-AM class Max Kronberg and Finn Zulauf lead, 15 points ahead of Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub. Pascal Huteau and Laurent Hurgon win the AM championship with a round to spare, over Florent Grizaud and Kevin Jimenez.