Weekly Racing Roundup (5.13.19)

Duncan Tappy and Michael Benham claimed their second consecutive Michelin Le Mans Cup victory in a storm-affected two-hour race at Monza.

The Lanan Racing Norma M30 Nissan assumed the lead when the British team’s switch to full wet tires near the end of the race brought Tappy out of the pits ahead of erstwhile leader Colin Noble in the No. 2 Nielsen Racing Norma.

Noble, who had taken over from Tony Wells, was then passed by Laurents Hoerr in the No. 3 DKR Engineering Norma for second position as Tappy held on for victory.

Rounding out the top five were two more Norma entries from GrainMarket Racing and DKR Engineering, while Mike Guasch and Wayne Boyd finished sixth in the highest-placed Ligier JS P3 Nissan.

Tappy and Benham’s win means they now hold a 13-point advantage over Hoerr and Francois Kirmann heading into the Road to Le Mans double-header in June.

Luzich Racing’s Mikkel Mac and Fabien Lauvergne took the Monza GT3 class honors as Ferrari 488 GT3 crews occupied all three podium positions.

2015 European Le Mans Series champion Mac crossed the line ahead of the No. 8 Kessel Racing machine and the No. 51 Spirit of Race car, while Beechdean’s Aston Martin Vantage came through in fourth.

RESULTS

Two types of Lola LMP1 machinery shared out the spoils in the Aston Martin Masters Endurance Legends series’ visit to Monza.

Christophe D’Ansembourg claimed victory in race 1 with his Lola-Aston Martin DBR1 after a long battle with the Lola-Judd B07/18 of Michel Frey.

In race 2, Steve Tandy benefited from contact between D’Ansembourg and Frey to take his first win of the season in his ex-Dyson Racing Lola B12/60.

Frey recovered to finish first but was dealt a 25-second time penalty after the race, which handed Tandy the victory ahead of Kriton Lendoudis, whose Peugeot 908 crossed the line 0.7 seconds behind the Lola.

Frey’s penalty placed him third overall, ahead of the two Pescarolo 01s driven by Jamie Constable and Mike Cantillon.

In the GT class, Hardy Woodcock won both races of the weekend in his Ferrari 458 GTE. Next up for the Masters Endurance Legends is the French Historic Grand Prix at Magny-Cours in late June.

News & Notes

***FIA World Endurance Championship driver Julien Andlauer took an early lead in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup standings with a dominant victory in the Barcelona season-opener. The Porsche factory Junior, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE-Am class last year, won from pole position ahead of Turkish driver Ayhancan Güven.

***MotoGP star Andrea Dovizioso will compete for Audi as a guest driver in the DTM round at Misano next month. The Italian, who has finished second in the standings in the past two seasons, last raced a car in the 2016 Lamboghini Super Trofeo World Final. Dovizioso will sample the Audi RS5 Turbo for the first time in a two-day test shortly before the DTM weekend on June 8-9

***Steller Performance has become the first team to enter an Audi R8 LMS GT4 into the British GT Championship. The car, which will be driven by Richard Williams and Sennan Fielding, is set to make its debut in this weekend’s round at Snetterton.