Dinamic Motorsport wins GTWC Europe opener at Monza

Rain, tire blows, lead changes, a Silver Cup car in the overall podium, the opening of the 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe had everything in the first three hours of Endurance Cup, with the No. 54 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R of Matteo Cairoli, Klaus Bachler and Christian Engelhardt, with Bachler being an integral part on it as he was also in the 2019 Monza win for Dinamic.

The No. 88 AKKA-ASP repeated the feat of the sim racing event by starting in the front row, but now having a Lamborghini alongside, and the No. 63 FFF Lamborghini won the initial Italian drag race to Turn 1 as Mirko Bortolotti beat Raffaele Marciello, but the AKKA-ASP driver was more inclined pushing to attack Bortolotti than falling in the hands Charles Weerts in the No. 32 WRT Audi.

It took just 15 minutes for the rain that was crossing Italy to arrive at Monza, getting more and more intense and forcing an immediate entry in the pits since some parts of the track had a considerable level of standing water, though it didn’t affect the order initially.

The No. 63 suffered a huge blow in its run after leaving the pits, where Bortolotti was forced to stop the car due to traffic and after firing it up, it couldn’t keep going in a consistent basis, going a full lap in a start-stop manner, while the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes was gifted with the lead behind the Safety as the track was cleared from spinning cars and loose debris.

After 20 minutes of neutralization to clean the track and judge the water level, the green was waved again, with the No. 4 HRT Mercedes pressing and passing the No. 32 WRT Audi, gaining the second place with quite the rough approach.

After switching between being aggressive and settle for position, the No. 4 HRT Mercedes took the strategy to its advantage, gaining in a slow pit stop for the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mertcedes and having the lead as a gift, with the No. 32 WRT Audi keeping track of the leader, or at least it was the case until a left rear puncture destroying the specific corner of the car, in a way that Kelvin van der Linde couldn’t even bring it back to the pits for repairs. Put the No. 22 GPX Martini Porsche visiting the garage for further checks and most threats to the Mercedes domination were gone for the time being.

The race was so much of a mess that some Silver Cup entries were invading the overall top-10, with the highest placed Silver Cup car being the No. 14 Emil Frey Lamborghini in fourth, eventually jumping to third overall. The opportunity for a more mixed order appeared when the leading No. 4 HRT Mercedes and the Nos. 163 and 114 Emil Frey Lamborghinis also had rear left punctures, tumbling down the order and leaving the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche in the lead as Daniel Juncadella was caught napping in the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes.

The No. 54 Dinamic Porsche would dominate the race during the final half of the second hour, and opted for an early final pit, proved to be the correct strategy as a left rear puncture for the No. 10 Boutsen Ginion BMW would bring another yellow flag to the collection.

The final hour had the No. 54 in front and the No. 88 busy in the defensive, as the Silver Cup leader No. 14 Emil Frey Lamborghini had the pace to challenge the Mercedes, but not the need to do so since the class lead was more than secure. WIth the status quo within the top cars, the No. 54 Dinamic Porsche just had to manage the pace to get the checkered flag, with a historic overall podium for the Silver Cup winner No. 14 Emil Frey Lamborghini, finishing third between the second and third of the Pro Cup, the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes and the No. 51 Iron Lynx Ferrari, which did a classy debut in GT World Challenge Europe.

GTWC Europe - Monza race results

The No. 188 Garage 59 Aston Martin had a relatively dominant run to the Pro-Am Cup win, in special around the final hour, which sent the British team to an overall top-15 finish, and with all class winners within the best 15, here’s proof on how hotly contested the race was.

The Endurance Cup will return on 30 May with the Paul Ricard 1000, but the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe has the Sprint Cup opener at Magny-Cours before that, to be held on 8 & 9 May.

PHOTO: SRO/Dirk Bogaerts