Dennis Leads BMW 1-2 in Tight Monza Practice

Century Motorsport’s Jake Dennis led a BMW 1-2 in a tightly contested Free Practice session for the penultimate Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round at Monza.

The BMW factory driver set a time of 1:45.087, which was fastest enough to withstand a late-session effort from the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Sheldon van der Linde by just 0.096 seconds.

Dennis also topped the Bronze Cup rankings in the process in the car he shares with Darren Leung and Toby Sowery.

The two BMWs led a two-hour session in which 0.330 seconds covered the top twenty. 47 out of 52 cars in the session were separated by less than a second.

Lamborghini drivers Matteo Llarena and Sandy Mitchell slotted into third and fourth with late improvements for GRT Grasser Racing Team and Barwell Motorsport, respectively.

This dropped the Fabian Schiller-driven No. 2 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to fifth, ahead of the No. 163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in the hands of Jordan Pepper.

Ben Green was seventh in the Bronze Cup-entered No. 36 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, leading Comtoyou Racing’s Marco Sorensen and the No. 27 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin completed the top ten, while the Gold Cup class was led by the No. 111 CSA Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in 17th overall.

The session was interrupted by a pair of red flags. The first occurred when Patrick Kolb spun the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche 911 GT3 R into the gravel at Lesmo 2.

A second stoppage followed when the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi found the gravel at Variante Ascari with Christopher Haase at the wheel.

Track action at Monza continues with Pre-Qualifying at 2:10 p.m. CEST (8:10 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice