Endurance Weekly: 29th May - 4th June

Written by the DIVEBOMB Endurance Team

This week on Endurance Weekly, the DIVEBOMB endurance team look back at the latest round of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWC EU) and the IMSA round at Detroit, reporting on all of the breaking news stories you may have missed.

GTWC EU - Monza - Review

Photo Credit: GTWC Photo Galleries

Round 4 of the GTWC series took place at the Temple of Speed: Monza. The three-hour endurance event went green at 3pm local time as over 50 cars roared down to the carnage at Turn 1. 

The No.48 Winward Racing Mercedes won the race but it was the No.17 GetSpeed Mercedes that started from pole. Cars covered the runoff at Turn 1 and the first safety car came out after the No.9 and No.21 cars collided at the Curva Grande. 

The No.17 Mercedes retained its lead in the hands of Joules Gounon, ahead of the No.63 Lamborghini and the No.48 Mercedes. There was a minimum three mandatory pit stops per car for Monza, but most of the field took their first stop under a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which came out only a few laps in. On the restart, the No.48 jumped ahead of the No.63.

Another Full Course Yellow (FCY) was bought out when the No.92 Porsche crashed into the barrier at Turn 1. 

After an hour, the No.17 had a three-second lead to the No.48 Mercedes. The lead was lost when another VSC came out while the No.17 was mid-pit stop. The No.48 inherited the lead from the No.7 and No.60. The No.17 dropped to fourth.

With under an hour remaining, the day got worse for the No.17 car, whose front tyre was not fitted to properly in the pit lane. Luca Stolz pulled over in the Mercedes, out of the race. The No.17 was not the only car having tyre issues, as the No.19 Lamborghini suffered a tyre blowout on the main straight, which caused the seventh FCY.

Lucas Auer finished the race in first place in the No.48, followed home by the No.59 McLaren and the No.7 Aston Martin. The No.777 BMW won the Gold class, the No.42 BMW won Silver and the No.97 Porsche won in Bronze.

The next round of the GTWC, the 24 Hours of Spa, takes place on 28th June.

IMSA - Detroit - Review

Credit: Dominic Loyer

The Acuras led the field away in the fifth round of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, which took place on the streets of Detroit last weekend. The Acuras held the lead at the start, ahead of the No.25 BMW and the No.7 Porsche, which made places on the first lap.

Unfortunately for GTD class fan-favourite No.77 Porsche ‘Roxy’, it was spun into the barrier by the No.14 Lexus. Klaus Bachler was able to keep the car in the race but a long way off the lead. The No.81 Ferrari also found the barrier after going straight at Turn 3.

After the first round of pit stops, the No.7 Porsche managed to overcut the No.93 Acura and the No.6 Porsche came out right on the tail of the Acura in third place. The No.10 Cadillac was the last GTP car to pit and came out between the No.7 and No.93 in second place. 

A crash in the GTD class brought out a safety car, which let the No.10 Cadillac attack and overtake the No.7 Porsche to take the lead. While getting overtaken, Nick Tandy in the No.7 Porsche went off-line, allowing the No.93 to also get by. 

With no more than a few minutes remaining, Renger van der Zande, in the No.93, put a race-winning overtake on the No.10 Cadillac. Meanwhile, the No.6 Porsche was the next car to get ahead of the No.7. 

The No.93 Acura broke Porsche’s winning streak as they could only finish third with the No.6, behind the No.10 Cadillac. In GTD Pro, the No.64 Ford beat the No.3 Corvette to the top step of the podium, ahead of the No.9 Lamborghini. Despite its earlier off, No.77 ‘Roxy’ finished fourth place in class. 

Breaking News

GTWC

Andrea Bertolini retires from pro racing

Credit: GTWC Photo Gallery

Drawing to a close a 25-year career, Andrea Bertolini raced for the final time in his team's home race at Monza. Bertolini also began his career at the Monza circuit in a Porsche 996 a quarter-of-a-century ago. 

While Bertolini is most famous for being a driver at Maranello, he also had a successful stint driving the Maserati MC12 GT1, with which he won the FIA GT Championship three times and then the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010.

Bertolini continued to win championships in the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) in 2013 and in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) in 2014. He then won the LMGTE Am World Endurance Championship (WEC) Drivers’ title in 2015, alongside a class win at Le Mans.

More recently, Bertolini has been racing in the GT World Challenge with AF Corsa. The Italian finished fourth in class in his final outing last weekend in Monza. 

Le Mans

No.60 Iron Lynx lineup switched up for the remainder of the season

Credit: Iron Lynx 

The No.60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo has seen a driver change ahead of the biggest race of the year. With Le Mans just two weeks ago, Iron Lynx have announced the No.60 will be driven by Andrew Gilvert, Fran Rueda and Lorcan Hanafin. 

This will be each driver’s Le Mans debut. Rueda and Hanafin are both Silver-rated drivers, meaning the No.60 will be the only LMGT3 car with no Gold or Platinum driver. 

Nürburgring 24h

HRT have revealed their three-car lineup for Nürburgring 24h

Credit: Haupt Racing Team

The Nürburgring 24h is three weeks away and HRT have announced their three-car lineup. The race will be the debut for the Ford Mustang GT3s as the manufacturer tries to win the fabled race for the first time in 38 years. 

The No.63 Car will be driven by Hubert Haupt, Vincent Kolb, Patrick Assenheimer and 2004 Nürburgring 24h winner Dirk Mueller.

The No.64 Ford will be driven by Frank Stippler with Arjun Maini, Dennis Olsen and Jusuf Owega. Stippler won the race last year in Scherer Sports’ Audi and has been performing at a high level this season in the Nürburgring Langsrecken-Serie (NLS) races. 

David Schumacher will race in the No.65, alongside Salman Owega and Dennis Fetzer. Jusuf Owega will be completing the double, also driving the No.65.