Lamborghini And Ferrari Crews Share The Monza Spoils
Race 1
Maximilian Paul and Pierre-Louis Chovet took their fourth win of the season in their Oregon Team Lamborghini Huracan in a Race 1 full of suspense at Monza.
On a drying track, the German-French duo beat the Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase and the GetSpeed Marcedes in the hands of a pair of 17 year old Brits, Aaron Walker and James Wallis.
The two top title contenders, the Optimum McLaren of De Haan-Fagg and the Motopark Mercedes of Menchaca (now racing with Thomas Neubauer) finished tenth and ninth, respectively, which, remarkably, now ties them at 99 points at the top of the standings!
Steve Jans and Axel Blom took today their maiden win of the season in Pro-Am, with Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald (AF Corse Ferrari) scoring their second win in Am.
With the track still wet, the start was taken behind the safety car (for one lap). Paul, after his fourth pole of the season, pulled away followed by Basz, Arrow, Rumpfkeil, Walker, Schirò, De Haan, and Neubauer.
At the end of lap 2, Basz made a superb move on Paul, passing him on the outside at the Parabolica to take the lead, with Arrow, Rumpfkeil, Walker, Schirò, and Neubauer, while the track remained treacherous, with several cars cutting the chicanes.
The gaps remained stable, with Basz leading by 1.2 seconds and with the biggest battle involving Walker, Schirò, and Neubauer for 5th, with championship leader De Haan in tenth.
The duel between Basz and Paul just increased over time and at the end of lap 11 the two were side by side at the exit of Parabolice, with the German retaking the lead at the first chicane.
Arrow was a solid third, seven seconds behind followed by Rumpfkeil, who dominated in Am but was passed shortly after by Walker, after a slight contact. Schirò, Neubauer, and Cheever continued in a close fight for sixth, with the Frenchman taking the advantage on lap 15.
The pit stop window, in the meantime, opened on lap 14. After all stops (lap 19), Chovet led ahead of teammate Perolini but none of the Lambos could resist the charge of James Wallis, the young Brit on his debut in the GetSpeed Mercedes, who took the lead on lap 20. Fourth was Jedlinski, leading in pro-Am, then Pulcini, soon passed by Menchaca, Fagg, Haase, and Jans. In Am, Cipriani had taken the lead from Neumann.
The last part of the race saw a heated duel between Wallis (on rain tires) and Chovet (on slicks), who retook the lead at the Curvone from the outside (lap 25) before the Englishman fought back briefly to first. The Mercedes though had a 3-second penalty to be added post-race because of the initial contact with Rumpfkeil.
As Chovet eventually cruised to success, it was his teammate Perolini putting on the late race show, as he attacked Wallis for second, but on the penultimate lap, the Italian lost control on the wet track with his slick tires and crashed out. Eventually, Haase took second ahead of Wallis, Jans (who won in Pro-Am ahead of Fumanelli, Pavlovic, and Jedlinski), and Agostini. In Am, Grunewald took the win ahead of Cipriani, Sernagiotto, and Jedlinski.
Race 2
Riccardo Agostini and Nicola Marinangeli took their second win of the season, this time at home in Monza. The AF Corse duo put a perfect race to beat the SPS Mercedes of Reece Barr-Mikaeel Pitamber and the Oregon Team Lambo of Max Paul-Pierre Louis Chovet, in another podium dominated by youth.
The situation in the overall standings ahead of the decisive round is still completely open, with Menchaca (Motopark Mercedes) in the lead with 104 points, closely followed by De Haan-Fagg (Optimum McLaren, 101), Reicher-Haase (Eastalent Audi, 100) and Paul-Chovet (Oregon Lambo, 88).
It was a perfect day also for Olimp Racing, as the Polish squad brought home top honours in both Pro-Am, with Marcin Jedlinski-Karol Basz (Audi) and Am, with Stanislaw Jedlinski- Krystian Korzeniowski (Ferrari).
Pierre-Louis Chovet, took his second pole of the year ahead of Reece Barr, and had no trouble in keeping the advantage at the start, while the Irishman was passed by Fagg, in the outside line, Haase and Fumanelli. Mettler is sixth ahead of Agostini, Jans and Osieka, first in Am. Moss started from the pits because of last-minute technical problems.
On lap 3, the safety car was out to allow recovery of the stricken Ferrari of Cuhadaroglu.
At the restart, on lap 5, Chovet kept everything under control, increasing his advantage up to 8 seconds, followed by Haase, Barr, Fumanelli, Agostini, Mettler, Jens and Sernagiotto who was the new leader in Am, after an off-track for Osieka, Sernagiotto, Menchaca and Pavlovic.
Lap 12 saw the pit stop window open during which the Aston of Fazal-Karim remained stuck in turn 1 after being hit by Cuhadaroglu. Shortly after, there was action in the middle of a fighting group, with Cipriani sent into the barriers ahead of turn 1. Montermini would receive a drive-through for that incident.
Shortly after the window closed, Jousset was out in the gravel at Lesmo while, in a separate incident, Cozzi went off-track and was hit by Walker as he rejoined. The safety car was deployed again (lap 18).
Leading was Marinangeli, 7 seconds ahead of De Haan, Pitamber, Reicher, Paul, Arrow, Neubauer, and Müller, who led Pro-Am, while Saada led in Am.
At the restart (lap 22), there was an assertive move of Neubauer at the exit of the first chicane, with the Frenchman passing Arrow and Paul and taking fifth behind Marinangeli, Pitamber, De Haan and Reicher.
The top four didn’t change but Paul retrieved fifth from Neubauer , while in eighth Basz led the Pro-Am top five including Cheever, Blom, Muller and Schirò, while Rumpfkeil, who was leading in Am, dropped to third after a penalty for a contact with Stanley, leaving the win to Korzeniowski and second to Osieka.
At the top, Marinangeli won ahead of Pitamber, with Paul charging back to third, then Jedlinski, Reicher and Neubauer, while Fagg dropped to 8th because of a 5-second penalty for breaking formation at the start, inflicted also to Mettler and Proctor.
Standings after Monza
Overall:
1. Menchaca, 104;
2. De Haan-Fagg, 101;
3. Haase-Reicher, 94;
4. Siebert, 97;
5. Chovert-Paul, 88;
6. Agostini-Marinangeli, 83; etc
Pro-Am:
1. Cheever-Pulcini, 65 points;
2. Jedlinski-Basz, 58;
3. Schirò-Rosi, 49;
4. Jans-Blom, 47;
5. Müller-Mettler, 38;
6. Jao Javanil-Pavlovic, 30; etc
Am:
1. Neumann-Rumpfkeil, 68 points;
2. Grunewald-Saada, 62;
3. Kirchmayr-Baron, 57;
4.Cipriani, 56;
5. Cozzi- Sernagiotto, 52;
6. Nana-Osieka, 50; etc
Teams:
1. Motopark, 63 points;
2. Eastalent Racing, 60;
3. Optimum Motorsport, 60;
4. AF Corse, 56;
5. Oregon Team, 52; etc