OQ by Oman wins bizarre Endurance Cup race at Monza

A fuel mileage run combined with drive time worries led to one uncommon race winner in the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup return to Monza this Sunday (22), with the the trio of the No. 30 OQ by Oman Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Ahmad Al Harthy, Sam de Haan and Jens Klingmann having the last laugh as a Bronze Cup entry got the overall win, while the three hours of racing were also marked by lots of damage.
 
The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari was leading the field at the start, and while most of the field  came out safely of the first chicane chaos that is well known in sim racing, a chain reaction triggered when the No. 48 Winward Mercedes clattered the No. 32 WRT BMW and the No. 007 Comtoyou Aston Martin, it compressed the field to a point most of the drivers were more worried about finding a way to escape the chaos than following the racing line, as varied degrees of damage were seen, from missing panels like in the No. 2 Getspeed Mercedes to terminal mechanical damage like in the No. 74 Kessel Ferrari, the No. 80 Lionspeed Porsche and the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes.
 
While the No. 51 kept the lead with ease, the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche was defending the second place from the No. 46 WRT BMW, and in Kevin Estre’s quest to use the whole width of the track, the No. 22 had the two right tires in the grass, spinning its way to Ascari’s gravel trap and handing the second place to Valentino Rossi.
 
A lengthy Safety Car period due to multiple tire blows, and the No. 46 relinquished the second place to work on a different pit strategy, which allowed the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche and No. 998 ROWE BMW to fight behind the No. 51, of which Dan Harper won for ROWE Racing before the next Safety Car period came due to a stricken No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari. The problem for the No. 998 is that the front right wheel got loose and an extra stop was needed. With the final stops coming for the leaders, the No. 99 Attempto Audi became the leader with the No. 30 OQ Oman BMW and No. 32 WRT BMW on the chase.
 
With less than 20 minutes to go it would be a game of which car doesn’t need a splash and go or a drive time reset, which gave the lead to the No. 32 WRT BMW, which stopped 5 minutes later to hand the top spot to the No. 991 Paradine BMWm which was penalized with a Stop and Go due to an earlier collision, so the No. 96 Rutronik Porsche was first, which then stopped and passed the lead to the No. 30 OQ Oman BMW with the No. 32 WRT BMW right behind, but the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari decided to battle one last time, only to return the second position to the No. 32 while the No. 30 OQ Oman BMW secured the overall win and the Bronze Cup win, with the No. 32 WRT BMW getting the Pro Cup honors.
 
The No. 57 Winward Mercedes won the Silver Cup from ninth overall while the No. 77 HRT Mercedes was the best Gold Cup car.
 
GTWC Europe - Monza race results
 
The 25 points from this Monza win were the first for the No. 30 crew, which now sits in eighth in the Endurance Cup standings, which are still led by the trio Sorensen/Thiim/Drudi (No. 007) with 54 points against the 51 of Rovera and Pier Guidi (No. 51) and of the trio Haase/Feller/Aka (No. 99).
 
The Endurance Cup will conclude its season with the new event of the calendar as the Jeddah 1000 will be held only this year on 30 November.
 
PHOTO: SRO/JEP