The 3 Hours of Monza, the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, ended with third and fourth spot in Pro class for the two Ferrari Iron Lynx crews. At the end of a race full of twists and turns, the #71 crew of Davide Rigon, Antonio Fuoco and Callum Ilott were able to climb onto the lowest step of the Pro class podium, ahead of their #51 sister car driven by reigning champion Alessandro Pier Guidi , Nicklas Nielsen and Côme Ledogar. In the Silver Cup, seventh place went to Rinaldi Racing, while the AF Corse car was sixth across the finish-line, best of the Ferraris competing in Pro-Am.
Pro. Getting the race underway on dry tyres, protagonists found themselves having to battle it out in a heavy downpour which drenched the track ten minutes into the race. However, most competitors chose to remain on slicks. In the very instance that the two Ferraris entered to swap for wets, a Full Course Yellow was declared, disadvantaging the two Iron Lynx 488 GT3 Evo 2020 - at that moment holding fourth and seventh positions respectively with Rigon and Ledogar at the wheel. After another period of FCY, the Ferraris attempted a comeback and were poised to take advantage of a new FCY phase to change tyres and drivers, which however was immediately cancelled. Nielsen overtook Ilott who was getting his first ever experience of driving in the wet. With 1h44 still to run, the two Ferraris attempted a surprise move by mounting slicks, despite the fact that the track had not yet completely dried out. In the early stages, both Ilott and Nielsen dropped positions, before quickly climbing the order to eventually reach third and fourth positions. Shortly before another FCY, with 50 minutes still left on the clock, Fuoco took the wheel in the #71, while reigning champion Alessandro Pier Guidi boarded #51. Fuoco's assault on Feller's third position was slowed down by Silver-class team-mate, Costa. In spite of repeated attempts in the latter stages, the young Italian had to eventually settle for fourth overall place ahead of his team-mate, meaning third and fourth place in the class. The race was won by the #54 Dinamic Motorsport-run Porsche.
Silver. Rinaldi Racing's 488 GT3 Evo 2020, driven by Benjamin Hites and Patrick Kujala, ended the race in seventh spot. The pair performed well with the Chilean even reaching second position in the class at mid-race. One more pit stop than their rivals and a five-second penalty hampered the Ferrari’s chances, dropping it back to seventh place.
Pro-Am. Andrea Bertolini, Louis Machiels and Lorenzo Bontempelli finished in sixth place in a very closely-fought class battle. The AF Corse crew produced a very steady showing that allowed the trio to finish ahead of stable-mates Chris Froggatt, Eddie Cheever III and Stefan Görig, who had staged a fine comeback after spinning off in the opening hour. The Ferrari belonging to Kessel Racing was forced to withdraw.
Schedule. Next stop for the GT World Challenge Europe will be France at the Magny Cours track, for the first round of the Sprint Cup taking place from 7-9 May. Elsewhere, the Endurance Cup will be back on track from 28-30 May for the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000 Km.