Rain was expected during the first Blancpain GT Endurance Cup weekend at Monza, and in fact it was a headache for most of the competition, though the No. 54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R mastered it by sticking to the plan with rain tires only, which gave the victory to Klaus Bachler, Andrea Rizzoli and Zaid Ashkanani.
With the track being absolutely wet, two Safety Car laps were done to see the track condition before the green flag, and caution was the name of the game in the initial moments, with the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini easily defending its leading position.
Things were respectful on track, even between the few brave drivers that worked for the overtakes, but with 30 minutes of racing the first Full Course Yellow came in a bizarre accident, as Davide Roda in the No. 111 Antonelli Mercedes lost control under braking to Retifillo and destroyed the rear of the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari, much to the tremendous anger of Niek Hommerson.
During the first pit window, although the track condition was better it was still wet, so the tire option stayed the same, and Jake Dennis in the No. 76 R-Motorsport Aston Martin took the opportunity to go ahead while the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini was tumbling down the order quickly. Dennis lost pace gradually, and Raffaele Marciello in the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes was the one who took the lead and opened the gap.
A bit after the halfway mark, another Full Course Yellow took place as the Pro-Am Cup lead battle ended in tears as the No. 87 AKKA-ASP Mercedes and No. 74 RAM Racing Mercedes collided, with the worst coming for the No. 87 as it remained on the grass without movement.
The green flag came 10 minutes after and the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes started losing pace, being powerless to hold the pressure from the debuting No. 98 ROWE Porsche as it took the lead, and Marciello saw things get worse as he fell down to fifth before going to the final pit stop.
The final hour had another Full Course Yellow and then turned into a race to protect your place, and those who couldn’t would be gobbled down by the pack. From this mess the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi became the leader with the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche being the nearest threat, but a puncture in the No. 25 Audi ripped apart their victory chances with 12 minutes, gifting the No. 54 with the win by a modest advantage over the No. 563 FFF Lamborghini, while the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes completed the overall podium.
The No. 90 AKKA-ASP left the No. 6 Black Falcon Mercedes to win the Silver Cup, the No. 16 Barwell Lamborghini won the Am Cup and the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari debuts in Blancpain GT with a Pro-Am Cup win. Curiously all class winners finished in the better half of the table as they completed the race in the top-20.
The next Blancpain GT Endurance Cup race will be at Silverstone on May 12th.
PHOTO: SRO
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