Tresor Attempto Audi Takes Shock Monza Win

Tresor Attempto Racing took a shock victory at Monza in a dramatic GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup race that started and ended with chaos at the first corner.

Ariel Levi, Sebastian Ogaard and Rocco Mazzola delivered the first Audi win in the championship since Hockenheim 2022 aboard their No. 66 R8 LMS Evo II, which also took honours in the Silver class, after a late multi-car accident meant the three-hour contest ended under caution.

Kelvin van der Linde’s No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3, which had been leading with an hour to go, rear-ended the No. 9 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alexey Nesov, which was launched into a roll after ramming Ezequiel Perez Companc’s No. 25 Sainteloc Audi and then clattered into the luckless Marvin Dienst, whose No. 87 Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo had been on course for Bronze class spoils and second overall.

This drama handed a runner-up finish to the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG of Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Lucas Auer, the leading Pro class entrant, which had just been elevated to third after a skirmish that left Ben Dorr’s RJN Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo bouncing through the gravel at Lesmo 2.

An improbable podium was completed by the No. 555 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO driven by Romain Andriolo, Baptiste Moulin and Lorens Lecertua, which gained 38 positions from its grid spot and recovered from the last-named being spun at Turn 1 in the final stint to also finish second in the Silver class.

In a field decimated by carnage at the first corner, the race was decided by a seven-minute sprint to the flag that followed a safety car. As the leader of the group of cars that had still to make their third and final stops, Dorr had looked set to take advantage of a full course yellow triggered by an engine fire for Kiern Jewiss’s 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, which coincided with Tommy Pintos spinning his Greystone GT McLaren into the barriers exiting the second Lesmo.

But Dorr, who ultimately was classified sixth overall and third of the Silver crews in the machine he shared with Max Lynn and Horatio Fitz-Simons, made his stop partially under green and lost time relative to those including Dienst and Mazzola who pitted one lap later.

Mazzola jumped Dienst, who together with Rinat Salikhov and Gabriele Piana had led the Gold class since the start, and therefore led at the restart. He held firm from Dienst’s initial attack at the first chicane, and then was afforded temporary respite as Dorr’s attack on Dienst yielded a change for third, while Perez-Companc briefly took fourth.

When the dramatic crash froze the order, it capped a remarkable rise for the crew that had qualified 29^th, with Levi avoiding the opening lap pileup which removed seven leading contenders on the spot.

This included the HRT Ford Mustang GT3 Evos that had claimed pole in the Pro and Silver categories, while the No. 3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG and No. 99 Tresor Attempto Audi incurred damage that contributed to their later retirements.

Blame for the accident was attributed to Maxime Martin, whose No. 9 Get Speed Mercedes-AMG initially took the lead before being handed a three-minute stop-go penalty and was subsequently withdrawn.

Alessio Rovera’s No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 was forced to take evasive action after Martin rejoined from beyond the white line, triggering contact with Endurance Cup points leader Nicki Thiim’s Comtoyou Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and the Boutsen VDS Porsche of Gilles Magnus. Rovera then bounced into Marvin Kirchhofer’s Garage 59 McLaren, who was sent out of control across the grass into polesitter Arjun Maini (HRT), Ricardo Feller (LionSpeed Porsche) and Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT).

With Martin removed from the picture, Engel therefore led the remaining Boutsen VDS Porsche of Alessio Picariello, and the two remained nose-to-tail when Stolz and Dorian Boccolacci took over. They only diverged on strategy under a FCY at the end of the second hour, when pitting one lap later after the FCY gave way to the safety car appeared to have cost Auer any chance of a good result as he rejoined in 28^th position.

However, the late FCY brought Auer back into play while wrecking the strategy adopted by WRT’s No. 32 crew and Boutsen VDS, although Morris Schuring (in for Boccolacci) navigated the late chaos to claim fourth.

ROWE Racing took advantage of the FCY to re-deploy Jake Dennis, who had exited his No. 98 BMW at the end of the second stint without completing his drive-time, and therefore took fifth along with Raffaele Marciello and Augusto Farfus.

Lynn, Fitz-Simons and Dorr completed the overall top six and finished an unrepresentative third of the Silver class, provisionally ahead of the van der Linde/Charles Weerts/Jordan Pepper BMW, while the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 took eighth courtesy of Luca Engstler, Marco Mapelli and Patric Niederhauser’s No. 96 Rutronik Racing example.

Kessel Racing inherited the Bronze class victory in eighth overall with Dustin Blattner, Lorenzo Patrese and Dennis Marschall, as the all-Danish Selected Car Racing Ferrari of Simon Birch, Malte Ebdrup and Frederik Schandorff claimed the Gold class in 15th.

RESULTS: Race