+ Result: Race 2, Monza
Cedric Fuchs and Enrico Förderer completed a clean sweep of victories at Monza, taking full advantage of a penalty for on-the-road winners Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche.
The Team Speedcar Audi had controlled what turned out to be a crazy race that featured two safety car periods from start-to-finish, but a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during their mandatory stop undid their hopes. Lariche did his best to extend the gap on track back to Förderer to try and overturn the penalty but fell just short as the German followed him home 8.9s behind. Cameron McLeod and Marco Signoretti made it two Mustangs on the podium this weekend, finishing third after a tight multi-car battle.
Sacha Bottemanne and Viny Beltramelli made up for retirement in Race 1 by scoring Pro-Am victory for Team Speedcar, doing what the sister car failed to and managing to overturn their own time penalty for pitlane speeding.
After his closest rival Daniel Blickle was eliminated from the race in a spectacular accident, Julien Ripert was left unopposed to cruise to the Am class victory.
After losing their shot at victory to a mechanical issue in Race 1, Consani and Lariche got a second chance from pole, and Consani didn’t waste it by leading the pack through Turn 1 as the sister Audi of Paul Petit slotted into second ahead of Georgi Dimitrov’s CMR Ginetta, which gave Petit a barge after going into the first apex too hot.
Racing was interrupted for the first time when the #30 W&S Porsche and #11 Borusan BMW tangled on the run to Della Roggia, bringing out the safety car. Petit’s Audi was clearly feeling the effects of its early hit and suffered a puncture soon after racing resumed, which took Petit out of the running.
Consani began to pull clear of Dimitrov, who was handed a 10-second penalty for the early clash, but the pack was soon bunched again following an airborne accident for Daniel Blickle after he lost control heading into Della Roggia, clipped the #5 Mirage GR Supra and rolled. Both drivers escaped injury.
The resulting cleanup delayed the pit window, with Consani opting to stop later than his rivals once it did finally open. However, when he did the car was pinged for speeding in the pits, so while Lariche rejoined back in the lead, a 10-second penalty was headed his way.
Fuchs had kept the #111 Mercedes-AMG inside the top four before handing to Förderer, who rejoined right in the middle of a great fight with McLeod’s Mustang, Dimitrov’s team-mate Jack Mitchell and Beltramelli’s Pro-Am leading Audi, which had rejoined second after a strong stint from Bottemanne helped the car run third by the pit window.
With the sister Audi acting as a buffer for Lariche, the pressure was on Förderer to pick his way through and by the time he finally cleared the R8, Lariche held a 9.4s lead. However, in clean air Förderer reduced the gap so Lariche fell just over a second shy of victory.
McLeod and Signoretti fought their way past the second Schnitzelalm Mercedes-AMG shared by Marcel Marchewicz and Julien Apotheloz to complete the podium, with Hudson Schwartz and Lucas Cartelle fifth in their CRT-Sport Toyota. Charlie Hart and McKenzy Cresswell were sixth in the #78 Elite McLaren, with Beltramelli and Bottemanne seventh after their own extra time for pit speeding was added on. They were still a few places clear of Schubert Motorsport’s consistent BMW in the hands of Pro-Am points leaders Victor Bouveng and Joakim Walde. After losing their Race 1 podium to a post-race penalty, Ebimotors drivers Riccardo Pera and Paolo Gnemmi celebrated third this time around in the #151 Porsche. After Blickle’s exit, Ripert finished well clear of Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen’s GR Sweden Supra to score his first Am class win of the year and give Team Speedcar a class double.
The GT4 European Series returns to action at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa where it will support the world’s biggest GT race across the weekend of June 25-27.