GT World Challenge Europe - Bronze masterclass at Team WRT

An unexpected Bronze victory wows and stuns the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at the Temple of Speed, in an unfortunate result for championship contenders from Aston Martin.

THE TEMPLE OF SPEED AWAITS

Round four of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup takes us to the Temple of Speed at Monza in Italy. With a bumper fifty-two car grid, and a three hour race, tensions were bound to rise and championship battles were to be enjoyed. Due to clashing commitments with the IMSA Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis, many factory drivers were swapped across the two series, including at manufacturers such as Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche.

Aston Martin decided to bring factory driver Valentin Hasse-Clot to fill in for Ross Gunn in the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport entry, alongside Henrique Chaves and David Pittard. 

BMW’s clash with the Indianapolis event meant that regular ROWE Racing drivers of Philipp Eng and Nick Yelloly were unable to race, where factory driver Robin Frijns and Maxime Oosten would join Marco Wittmann.

Vincent Abril would join the #51 AF Corse entry for Ferrari, due to Davide Rigon’s clash in IMSA, and Hypercar driver Yifei Ye would make his debut in GT3 machinery in the #71 AF Corse entry.

#63 Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 would be occupied by Edoardo Mortara and Leonardo Pulcini, filling in for Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli who were Indy bound to drive the Lamborghini SC63.

Spanish driver Fran Rueda would join the #27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren GT3, and the world’s fastest gamer James Baldwin would join the #158 Garage 59 McLaren.

Formula E driver Sergio Sette Camara would drive a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at Monza, joining the #9 Boutsen VDS entry due to Philip Ellis being on double duty in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the Michelin Pilot Challenge. Aussie Supercars championship hopeful Broc Feeney joined the #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed entry, due to Mikael Grenier also participating at the IMSA Indianapolis round.

Photo: SRO/JEP

QUALIFYING

As always in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, the qualifying session was split up into three fifteen-minute sessions, where the average lap time determined the grid for the three hour race.

Qualifying one was spearheaded by Alessio Rovera in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, setting a time of 1:44.992, followed by Dries Vanthoor in the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 just ninety-three hundredths slower. Impressively, the #188 Garage 59 McLaren of Adam Smalley, in the bronze category was P5 overall. Bronze drivers and cars doing well was a running theme throughout the weekend.

Qualifying two got off to a slow start, with cars dribbling out gradually. Mark Radcliffe spun the #27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren spun at Variante Ascari, however this was only covered by double-waved yellows, and the session continued. Aston Martin led early on in Q2, with the #34 and #35 entries first and second respectively, this was short-lived as Vincent Abril in the fastest car from Q1 topped the timing charts with just over five minutes remaining. The session was interrupted by a large incident at Variante Ascari including Maxime Oosten in the #98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3, which resulted in the session being red-flagged. It appears that the Dutchman overran on the exit, and went barrelling into the tyre wall, causing major damage to the car. The session was resumed after barrier repairs, with many cars choosing not to go back out, claiming it too risky, especially with only 3 minutes of the session to go. No teams were able to knock the Ferrari from the top, with the Schumacher CLRT #22 Porsche 992 GT3 sitting second, just eighty-two hundredths slower.

The final qualifying session saw drivers head to the track once again, where top times were headed by McLaren’s, Mercedes’, Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s, but Jordan Pepper in the #163 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 managed to set the all-time best lap time with a 1:44.727. This time is the global lap record for GT3 machinery at the Temple of Speed. However, due to the starting grid being determined by averaging out the three individual times, means that the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 claims a pole in front of the Tifosi. Meanwhile, championship leaders in the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin would line up second on the grid, and the Mercedes of Team Mann-Filter third.

Photo: SRO/JEP

RACE

Fifty-one cars hurled down the start-finish straight at Monza, with many overtakes happening before turn one. As the leaders approached Variante del Rettifilo, Lucas Auer made it three wide with the #007 Aston Martin and the #32 BMW, turning left and making contact with the Aston Martin, forcing both cars off track, as well as the #32 becoming stationary. Meanwhile, many other cars had to take avoiding action from other cars, notably taking the escape route straight on at turn one, instead of the chicane. Barely a minute later, at Variante della Roggia, chaos continued with the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes, #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari and #80 Lionspeed GP Porsche coming together, with all cars sustaining damage, and their races ending on lap one. A safety car was called, and lasted approximately fifteen minutes before racing resumed. 

Thirty-five minutes into the race, the #48 Mercedes-AMG was given a drive through penalty for the contact on lap one. Lucas Auer would pit from fifth position, and would end up coming out in twenty-third. Comtoyou Racing’s #007 Aston Martin suffered an issue barely forty minutes into the race, where the car stopped on the pit exit, and was required to do a reset of the car in order to go again. The car subsequently dropped from seventh to thirty-ninth, meaning the championship leaders would not score any points if the position wasn’t improved.

At the end of the first hour, the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 was leading overall, with the #46 Team WRT BMW and #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche following behind. With an hour and forty-five minutes remaining, Kevin Estre in the #22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 992 GT3 went off at Variante Ascari, and beached himself in the gravel after catching too much grass at the entry. Just after the full course yellow for Estre, James Baldwin suffered technical issues while at the wheel of the #158 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, and came to a halt on Curve Grande, the car would be retired.

Just after a safety car period, chaos returned with the #52 AF Corse Ferrari, which made contact with the #19 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini at turn one. The Ferrari missing its bonnet cover then went off into the gravel at the first Curve di Lesmo. At the end of the second hour, and into the final hour of the race the #51 Ferrari was still leading, however the ROWE Racing #998 BMW would see itself upto second, with the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche sitting nicely in third.

Photo: SRO/JEP

Only forty-five minutes remained, and bad luck stroke the #998 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3, where after its final pitstop of the race, the front right tyre was not properly attached, and was forced to pit to replace the loose tyre. Max Hesse would fall to P30 after this costly mistake, after such a determined attempt at a good position. Mustang and Lamborghini would battle it out with just thirty-five minutes to go, where it would be a game of cat and mouse for multiple times round the Temple of Speed.

Tensions were rising in the closing stages of the race, where Maro Engel in the #48 Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG would attempt to hold up the rapid and closing Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 Ferrari 296 GT3. MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi was in the #46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 just in-front, and was doing all he could to stay ahead. Pier Guidi would make a move around the outside at turn one on Maro Engel, which would solidify his rapid pace in the closing hour of the race. The Ferrari’s speed would be exaggerated as Pier Guidi would catch Rossi, and would overtake him at turn one once again.

Dries Vanthoor came into the pits after leading the race in order to reset his stint timer, sacrificing the lead to the #991 Century Motorsport BMW in the hands of Jake Dennis, who would also have to pit soon. When Vanthoor came out of the pits, he would be overtaken by Jens Klingmann in the #30 OQ by Oman Racing BMW and the #66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8, but Vanthoor would quickly get past Max Hofer in the Audi at the second Curve di Lesmo.

Photo: SRO/JEP

Unfortunately, the #991 BMW would receive a ten second time penalty for causing a collision earlier in the race, and with the car requiring to reset it’s stint timer would pit with just eight and a half minutes to go, handing the lead over to Julien Andlauer in the #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche. While Pier Guidi was on a charge, so was Jens Klingmann in the bronze BMW, overtaking Andlauer with five minutes to go at Variante Ascari, Dries Vanthoor would follow suit overtaking at Curva Parabolica as the Porsche pitted.

The final lap came, and what an incredible battle we saw with Pier Guidi and Vanthoor for second overall, where  both would make contact at turn one, seeing the Ferrari gain a position after overtaking off-track, but would be forced to give the position back after exiting Variante Ascari, leaving Klingmann alone in the lead, taking the win by 1.7 seconds to the sister Team WRT BMW. Jake Dennis in the #991 Century Motorsport BMW would come across the line in fourth overall, second in the bronze class, followed by Max Hofer in the #66 Audi finishing third in class and eleventh overall. What this exciting Monza race showed was the excellent performances from all Bronze entered cars.

Silver class honours would go to the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG, with the second and third spots occupied by Aston Martin’s from Comtoyou Racing and Walkenhorst Motorsport respectively. Mercedes would shine in the Gold class, with the #77 Haupt Racing Team entry winning, followed by Audi and Aston Martin in P2 and P3.

Photo: SRO/JEP

CHAMPIONSHIP STILL ALIVE!

After a disappointing race for the #007 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin, they still lead the overall Endurance Cup standings with 54 points, only to be trailed by just three points to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and #99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi who are tied on 51 points each.

The overall, as well as class win for the #31 OQ by Oman Racing BMW vaults them up to fourth in the Bronze standings, where the #93 Sky Tempesta Racing Ferrari currently leads with 65 points over the #52 AF Corse Ferrari with 57 points.

Paul Evrard, Gilles Magnus and Jim Pla lead the Gold standings with 107 points, twenty-seven points ahead of the #777 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes. Mathematically, the #77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes which won in class at Monza, still has a chance of the class championship if both the #25 and #777 entries retire at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in November.

Colin Caresani, Daan Arrow and Tanart Sathienthirakul in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes claim the Silver Endurance Cup championship with one race to go, leading the #3 GetSpeed Mercedes by thirty-eight points, with only thirty-four points on offer at Jeddah, their championship is sealed.

TO THE COAST OF SAUDI ARABIA

The final round of the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup takes us to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia on the 29th - 30th November, where a six hour battle for the title will ensue.