Gorini and Tamburini take fourth win for #1 LP Racing crew
Alexandre Leroy follows home for Am class triumph
Maserati GT2 dominates at home circuit, as GT2 Stradale road car officially unveiled
LP Racing’s Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini claimed a crucial triumph in the first Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli race of the weekend Saturday at Monza in their quest for Pro-Am title spoils, leading home a Maserati GT2 one-two-three on the road.
With the #1 Maserati GT2 crew starting third, key title rival Team MZR escaped into an early lead in a bid to extend the #812 KTM X-BOW GT2 squad’s 44-point advantage.
Their LP Racing team-mate Philippe Prette (#2 Maserati) and TFT Racing’s Alexandre Leroy then joined the mix to create a busy four-way battle for the win. However, Martin Koch and Reinhard Kofler would suffer a string of setbacks that put Team MZR out of contention.
Gorini brilliantly fought back before handing over to Tamburini, who sealed Maserati’s first GT2 success at Monza ahead of Leroy. The latter clinched his second Am class victory of the term, with fellow title rival Prette completing a top three sweep for Maserati on home soil.
It was a memorable day for the Italian marque, following the official unveiling of the road-going Maserati GT2 Stradale in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS paddock shortly before the race.
LP Racing score vital victory in Monza opener
Qualifying pacesetter Gilles Vannelet started down in sixth after a grid penalty, which left Leroy and Koch to fight it out into Turn 1 of the opening 50-minute contest. The latter braked later to seize the advantage, leading by 0.834s at the end of the opening lap.
The safety car was deployed early on lap three when series debutant Roberto Pampanini (#67 DINAMIC Motorsport Maserati) made contact with Thomas Andersen’s #80 Razoon - More Than Racing KTM on the approach to the first chicane to send the pair spinning into retirement.
At the restart, Koch launched away early but Leroy tucked into his slipstream, enabling him to out-drag the Austrian down the main straight and pull to the inside. He briefly claimed first place but, much like at the race start, Koch was later to brake and reclaimed the lead.
Their squabble allowed Gorini to close rapidly and the #1 Maserati dived up the inside of Leroy into the first corner. The LP Racing machine then latched onto the rear of Koch at the start of lap seven and, this time, the KTM driver was beaten under braking as Gorini moved to the front.
Over the next two tours, Prette and Leroy followed suit to leave Maseratis running one-two-three. Tamburini took over the leading Trident and resumed a lead he would never surrender for he and Gorini’s fourth overall win of the year.
Am title protagonists Leroy and Prette crossed the line second and third overall, Leroy claiming his second class win this term, while the returning #89 RTR Projects KTM of Jan Krabec and Viktor Mraz climbed from 12th to complete the Am podium.
True Racing’s Laura Kraihamer and Hubert Trunkenpolz charged from the seventh row of the grid to take the chequered flag fifth overall, claiming second in Pro-Am in the process. The Team MZR duo meanwhile recovered to take points for third in class despite a spin at the second Lesmo and a drive-through penalty.
Despite starting from the back of the grid, the experienced True Racing KTM duo of Klaus Angerhofer and Sehdi Sarmini steered clear of trouble to finish one place shy of the Am podium in fourth.
Pascal Gibon brought the best-placed Mercedes-AMG GT2 home in seventh for the #53 Akkodis ASP squad as Kofler ended an eventful outing in eighth. Ninth went to Vannelet and Jean-Luc Beaubelique in the sister Akkodis ASP car.
The Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli action continues in Italy Sunday. Race two starts at 11:10 CEST, streamed live via GT World on YouTube with commentary available in four different languages.
