Bronze Cup BMW Fronts WRT 1-2 in Monza Thriller

OQ by Oman Racing’s Bronze Cup-entered No. 30 BMW M4 GT3 took a historical, first-ever overall victory for a non-Pro entry in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at Monza.

Jens Klingmann held off Dries Vanthoor and a hard-charging Alessandro Pier Guidi to win the three-hour race at the Italian circuit, leading a 1-2 for Team WRT in the process.

The Belgian squad came out on top in a race that was significantly impacted by the introduction of a third mandatory timed pitstop for all runners.

WRT laid the groundwork for its 1-2 result with an off-sequence strategy during a safety car period triggered by a multi-car incident on the opening lap.

Both the No. 30 car and No. 32 BMWs came in to complete their three mandatory stops on the opening three laps of the race.

This initially dropped them both down the order significantly, but the two cars climbed back up the order as the remainder of the field completed regulars stops during an incident-packed race.

As the running order then shuffled out with the completion of the final pitstops, Klingmann’s No. 30 car emerged on track ahead of the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Pier Guidi.

The Italian had fought his way past the No. 46 Team WRT BMW of Valentino Rossi, which had also jumped the Ferrari after it had completed back-to-back mandatory stops under Full Course Yellow in the second hour.

While Pier Guidi was in the process of closing in on Klingmann for the lead, Vanthoor’s No. 32 BMW emerged ahead of both after his final stop and looked set to take victory.

However, the Belgian tripped up at Variante Rettifilo on his outlap, which allowed Klingmann to slip through but, crucially, not Pier Guidi.

The rapid Ferrari then attempted to pass Vanthoor at the same corner not much later, but ran wide and was forced to give the position back to the BMW driver.

Out front, Klingmann crossed the line by a margin of 1.759 seconds aboard the car he shared with Sam de Haan and Ahmad Al Harthy.

In the process, he secured BMW’s first overall Endurance Cup victory since switching to BMW, ending a win drought dating back to the 2022 3 Hours of Imola.

It also marks the first time in Endurance Cup history that a non-Pro entry took overall victory since the championship’s inception in 2011.

Vanthoor, Charles Weerts and Sheldon van der Linde finished second, with their off-sequence strategy allowing them to bounce back from an early setback when they were caught up in a multi-car incident also involving Lucas Auer and Mattia Drudi.

Auer was later given a drivethrough penalty for the infraction.

Pier Guidi, Alessio Rovera and Vincent Abril finished third despite leading much of the race from pole, with the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II fourth.

The overall top five was completed by the No. 46 Team WRT BMW and the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The No. 991 Century Motorsport BMW finished second in Bronze and seventh overall, with Pure Rxcing eighth overall.

A race of attrition saw a number of notable Pro entries fall by the wayside throughout the race.

Most notably, the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R, an early front runner, retired not long after a rare mistake from Kevin Estre.

Estre, chasing Abril for the lead, clipped the grass on entry at Variante Ascari and spun into the gravel. Although the car was recovered, it was retired not much later.

The No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo suffered a setback in the title battle when it briefly stopped on track with Mattia Drudi at the wheel with reported electrical issues.

It went on to finish 23rd overall and 13th in class, allowing both the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi to close the gap to just three points with one race remaining.

ROWE Racing’s No. 998 BMW, another front runner, had its competitive run dashed when a wheel was improperly attached after a pitstop, forcing Max Hesse to return to the pits.

The German squad finished 27th overall in a race where it was a car down at the start after the No. 98 sister car was withdrawn following a crash in practice.

Pre-race troubles also struck the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, which encountered a water leak en route to the grid and missed the start as a result.

Although it eventually rejoined, it finished nine laps down on the race lead.

Winward Clinches Silver Cup Title With Race to Spare

Colin Caresani, Daan Arrow and Tanart Sathienthirakul captured their second Silver Cup class victory of the season, clinching the class title with a race to spare.

The No. 57 Mercedes-AMG finished ninth overall and battled through a race of attrition to win, while non-finishes for its two title rivals have put the German squad out of reach for the remaining round in Jeddah.

Winward held a 20-point lead over the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG going into the weekend, but that car was eliminated in an opening-lap incident also involving Lionspeed GP and the No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari.

When the No. 3 GetSpeed car, which sat one point further back, ran into mechanical troubles, it left Winward clear to seal the title with one race remaining.

The class win in Gold Cup, meanwhile, went to the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG driven by Arjun Maini, Michele Beretta and Jusuf Owega.

RESULTS: 3 Hours of Monza