Riccardo Cazzaniga from Monza wins race-1 of the GT Open together with Klaus Bachler in the wet, while Osborne-Moss bends the resistance of their rivals in the dry. Italy goes to the podium in all classes of the Trial and triumphs in the Challenge category in front of hundreds of spectators.

There was no shortage of surprises at the weekend of the International GT Open and the Trial delle Nazioni at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. For the GT Open races, both in the premier class and in the five support series, the leaders of the overall rankings experienced a weekend of highs and lows, giving way to unexpected victories. In the Trial, on the other hand, Italy got on the podium in the men and women and achieved a prestigious success in the Challenge class with Alessia Bacchetta and Mirko Pedretti. For both events, the weather, not exactly benevolent on Saturday, also took care of it, to make them even more unpredictable, with several riders of both the two and four wheels who demonstrated their skills in extreme conditions.

The Italian flag flies on the top step of the podium of race-1 of the International GT Open. The credit goes to Riccardo Cazzaniga from Monza who, together with the Austrian Klaus Bachler of the Dinamic Motorsport team, team making their seasonal debut, won the victory on Saturday in the wet after obtaining an excellent third place in qualifying on the Porsche 991 GT3 R 2019. Cazzaniga starts well and consolidates the starting position, but the real turning point of the race comes when the driver changes under the safety car regime, when the duo manages to be faster than their rivals and to jump in the lead, keeping it up to the checkered flag. Behind them, second and third respectively, are the Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo – 2021 of Florian Scholze and Alain Valente (Team GT) and the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Roman Ziemian and Axcil Jefferies (Kessel Racing). Difficult race for the Oregon Team, with the two pairs of drivers fighting for the title finishing seventh with Kevin Gilardoni and Glenn Van Berlo and eighth with Benjamin Hites and Leonardo Pulcini.

Race-2 on Sunday is also decided by the whirlwind of pit stops and strategies. The first part of the race sees an intense battle between David Fumanelli’s Ferrari (Kessel Racing), Bachler’s Porsche and Joe Osborne’s McLaren 720 S GT3 (Optimum Motorsport), competing for the lead for several laps. But it is McLaren’s strategy that pays more than all the others, with Osborne stopping later than his rivals, setting a better pace with a clear road ahead and gaining the advantage enough to give teammate Nick Moss a comfortable return to the track. as a leader at the moment of the passing of the baton. Osborne-Moss thus crossed the finish line first, preceding Hites-Pulcini – second – and the duo Sébastien Baud-Steve Jans (GetSpeed Performance) on Mercedes AMG GT3 – 2022. The results of the weekend still keep the games open for the drivers’ title, which will be decided in Barcelona.

Jan Lauryssen is en plein in the two races of the GT Cup Open Europe . On Saturday, the Belgian driver of the Q1-trackracing team cleared all competitors by 15 seconds after recovering from the third position on the grid, preceding both teammate John de Wilde, second, and the duo composed of Jaume Font and Joan at the finish line. Vinyes (Baporo Motorsport), which must be satisfied with the less prestigious square of the podium. All three drivers were behind the wheel of a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup. In race-2 on Sunday Lauryssen precedes the duo Dirk Schouten-Lukas Valkre (Q1-trackracing) and Font-Vinyes, again third.

It was a weekend of two faces for TCR Europe overall leader Franco Girolami (Comtoyou Racing). In race-1, won by John Filippi’s CUPRA Leon Competition TCR (Sébastien Loeb Racing – Bardhal Team) ahead of Jáchym Galáš’s Hyundai Elantra N TCR (Hyundai Janìk Motorsport) and Mike Halder’s Honda Civic Type R FK7 TCR (Halder Motorsport) ), Girolami had to be satisfied with the final twelfth place, before making a comeback in the Sunday appointment, concluded as the winner. Behind the Argentine driver’s Audi RS 3 LMS II TCR, the CUPRA Leon of Klim Gavrilov (Volcano Motorsport) and Sergio López (RC2 Junior Team) finished in order. With this result, Girolami is the big favorite to win the title in the last round of the championship scheduled in Barcelona.

Even Oliver Goethe, protagonist of the Euroformula Open until now, did not live the weekend he had imagined. In the first of the three Brianza races, the Dane did not go beyond sixth place. The victory was won by poleman Vladislav Lomko (Cryptotower Racing Team), who triumphed in the wet ahead of Frederick Lubin (Team Motopark) and his teammate Christian Mansell. In race-2, Goethe was unlucky and was forced to start from the pitlane due to a technical problem a few moments from the start. Cryptotower Racing Team thus obtained another victory with Josh Mason, who preceded Lomko and Alex García (Team Motopark). In the last race, Lomko repeated himself, finishing ahead of Mason and Lubin, while Goethe, fourth until a few laps to go, spun after being involved in a collision.

The French drivers of Catheram France also had a hard time, presenting the busiest grid among the categories in the race at Monza, with 48 starters. In both races, held on Saturday afternoon in pouring rain and on Sunday in the dry to close the program, the transalpine Mathys Jaubert (Palm) won the most important post. In race-1, Jaubert defeated Bastien Gassin (ST Eloi), second, and Gary Gachnang (Palm), third. In race-2, the middle step of the podium went to Jeremy Azar (Rosselsp) and the less prestigious to Bruno Noregral (Palm).

The victory of the first of the two 25-minute races plus one lap of the Alpine Elf Europa Cup is also French. Alexis Garcin (Herrero Racing) took pole and victory in Saturday’s competition ahead of Lucas Frayssinet (Chazel Technologie Course) and Louis Méric (Race Cars Consulting). Frayssinet confirmed his second place in race-2, after competing for the victory until the last corner with Simon Tirman (Autosport GT), first at the finish. Garcin closed in third position instead.

The good pilots of the Trial of Nations had to work hard to overcome the pitfalls of all the tests of the Temple of Speed. Especially on the dirt road, made even more slippery by the rain on Saturday, the drivers amazed the hundreds of fans who flocked to the circuit to admire the event with series feats.

In addition to the aforementioned Italian victory signed by Bacchetta-Pedretti in front of Norway and Germany, our tricolor rose to the podium in both the male and female categories. Among the men, Matteo Grattarola, Lorenzo Gandola and Luca Petrella kept behind the fearsome trio of Great Britain – third at the end of the day – but they had to surrender to the supremacy of Spain, which also brought the 32-time world champion to Monza. disciplines Tony Bou, together with Jaime Busto and Adam Raga.

Spain that was also unbeatable among women, ahead of Great Britain. Italy finished third instead with Sara Trentini, Andrea Sofia Rabino and Martina Gallieni, improving however the fourth place reached in 2021 in Portugal.

At the Autodromo Nazionale Monza we are back on track in two weeks with the second round of the season in the Temple of Speed of the Italian ACI Championships. The ACI Racing Weekend 2 will take place between Friday 7 and Sunday 9 October 2022 and will bring the races of 6 categories to the track, with the main course being the Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship.