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Staff from Former GPX Partner Running Dinamic’s Lead Porsche

Monlau Competicion mechanics operating Pro-class No. 54 Porsche in GTWC this year…

Photo: Jules Benichou/21 Creation

Dinamic Motorsport has hired staff from former GPX Racing technical partner Monlau Competicion to run its No. 54 Porsche 911 GT3 R in Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS this year.

Spanish company Monlau supported GPX Racing’s 2019 Total 24 Hours of Spa-winning Porsche entry and also assisted the Dubai-based team in GTWC Europe last season.

GPX then aligned with ART Grand Prix for the upcoming Endurance Cup campaign, but Monlau has remained in the GTWC Europe paddock through its new association with another Pro-category Porsche entrant.

Monlau mechanics are servicing the No. 54 Porsche which finished third in last year’s standings with Christian Engelhart, Matteo Cairoli and Sven Mueller sharing the wheel.

Klaus Bachler has replaced Mueller in the lineup for 2021, while Dinamic team manager Alessandro Antonelli explained that the Italian squad introduced external support for one of its cars and re-allocated last season’s No. 54 crew to support its other race programs.

In addition to the continuing No. 54 machine, Dinamic has converted its No. 56 Silver Cup Porsche from last year into a Pro entry for the enduros involving Romain Dumas, Andrea Rizzoli and Mikkel O. Pedersen.

“We have a Spanish crew working with us,” Antonelli told Sportscar365. “The Monlau crew worked with GPX last year. No [big] change, just a small effort from the team to make it possible.

“I think the Spanish guys are experienced enough but no different from our crew. They won Spa, we know, but it’s also up to a lot of factors.

“The Spanish guys just do Endurance and Sprint with the No. 54. Other guys are on the 56 and we have other crews doing the [Carrera] Cup cars.

“We split the Italian guys [across] the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, Carrera Cup Italy and Creventic, so we don’t have enough Italians to do all the championships that we have.”

It’s understood that the No. 54 Porsche will remain at Dinamic’s Reggio Emilia facility despite Monlau’s involvement. Antonelli said the team currently has four GT3 Porsches on its premises, consisting of the two GTWC Europe cars and two owned by customers.

The Monlau crew support will extend to Dinamic’s new GTWC Europe Sprint Cup entry in the Pro class for Adrien de Leener and reigning ADAC GT Masters champion Engelhart.

2020 Season “More Than We Expected”

Whilst Dinamic is new to the short-format competition, it’s entering its third term in the Pro category of Endurance.

Antonelli suggested that last season’s run, which included a dominant win at the 6 Hours of the Nürburgring and a 24H Spa podium, exceeded the organization’s expectations.

“It was more than what we expected,” said Antonelli. “The podium in Spa was something really difficult and we gained it through strategy. We were fighting really big teams, but we are a small team.

“We had more results than we expected last year. This year is really difficult because the team owner is asking for more results. But in this championship, you need to be lucky.

“We will see. We will try to fight for the overall [wins] for sure, but WRT want to fight to for the overall. Last year they didn’t have too good results, but they are a professional team. In this championship you try your best, but you also need luck too and the setup should be perfect.

“We try to do our best. We don’t say that we must do results, we just need to do our best.”

Dinamic is also the defending 3 Hours of Monza winner, having triumphed on its maiden GT3 outing in the 2019 Endurance Cup opener with Bachler, Rizzoli and Zaid Ashkanani.

Monza did not host an Endurance Cup round last season due to schedule changes brought on as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite its early Monza success and the growth achieved since then, Antonelli currently reckons that it will be tough for Dinamic to repeat its 2019 result this weekend.

“There was rain in the race we won here in 2019,” he said. “We know the Porsche in wet conditions is a really fast car and we used a Full Course Yellow to jump 12 positions.

“Looking at the paid session yesterday, we were P13. So to get from P13 to P1 you need to be lucky. From what I saw, Lamborghini and Mercedes were really fast: this is just my opinion.

“We have had a lot of experience in the last two years. Last year was really good in the results, so we try to do the same this year.”

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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