Mercedes-AMG Sweeps Top Five in Incident-Filled Monza Practice

Jules Gounon led a Mercedes-AMG top five sweep in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup Free Practice at Monza, which was interrupted by four separate red flags across two hours of running.

The No. 17 Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo set the benchmark time of 1:45.629 in Gounon’s hands, which was just 0.005 seconds faster than the No. 9 Boutsen VDS machine of Maximilian Goetz in second place.

The Belgian squad worked its way into the top three late in the session after battling early gremlins that saw the No. 9 car complete just twelve laps, having been sidelined with a sensor problem early on.

It was then also struck with an issue that appeared to completely lock up the front right wheel later on, which forced Goetz to crawl back to the pits at slow speed.

Gold Cup was led by the No. 611 Nordique Racing machine of Kazuko Kotaka in third overall, followed by the Bronze Cup-leading No. 81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG piloted by Marvin Dienst.

Winward’s Pro-entered sister car rounded out the overall top five in the hands of Lucas Auer, thus completing a sweep of the top positions for the Stuttgart marque.

Alex Aka was the best non-Mercedes-AMG runner in sixth overall, leading Silver Cup aboard the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Mirko Bortolotti completed a late flyer to grab seventh in the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 after that car also battled early issues.

The top ten was rounded off by the No. 163 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini, No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG and No. 111 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

The two-hour session, which kicked off official running for the second round of the Endurance Cup season, featured no fewer than four red flag interruptions.

The first came after 47 minutes when Marzio Moretti stopped the No. 333 Paul Motorsport Lamborghini at Lesmo 2 with a rear right puncture.

After the session was resumed, it was stopped again just eight minutes later when Antoine Potty crashed the No. 270 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo at Ascari.

While Potty was confirmed to be okay following the crash, the aftermath saw the session halted for nearly 20 minutes and then red flagged for a third time a mere seven minutes after the restart.

This came after Dante Rappange suffered a high-speed spin at Ascari in the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and came to a stop on the left side of the circuit, with race control stopping the session to allow the Dutchman to rejoin safely.

A fourth and final red flag followed when Will Moore became stranded in the gravel in the No. 42 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO, although the British racer also stopped on track with a suspected battery problem on his way back to the pits.

In the closing moments of the session, Louis Machiels also spun the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 at Variante della Roggia, but the Belgian racer was able to continue.

Track action at Monza continues with Pre-Qualifying at 3:30 p.m. CEST (9:30 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Free Practice