Success and fate in GT Cup Open at Monza for drivers championship leaders MERTEL Motorsport
With P3 in AM for Stefano Bozzoni / Fernando Navarrete and in ProAm for Ivan Velasco / Jorge Cabezas in Race 1 and outstanding P1 in Race 2 for Ivan Velasco / Jorge Cabezas with car #80 it was a successful weekend in the penultimate round at Monza in the GT Cup Open. And the lead in the ProAm drivers championship was extended.
The Charity art car Ferrari piloted by Luca Ludwig and Steven Liquorish attracted a lot of attention for the project of Lebenshilfe Nürnberger Land and #grip4inclusion with it’s livery on track and from the reporters. We are happy that we could make that happen.
But in fact it was a racing weekend of rain and shine – not only concerning the weather. Race 1 on saturday started under safety car with heavy rain and we just wanted all our Ferraris to survive. And how great it run in the end! Luca Ludwig and Steven Liquorish came from the last place after the team had solved the technical issues to P12, Stefano Bozzoni and Fernando Navarrete came in P3 in AM and our PROAM car with Jorge Cabezas and Ivan Velasco secured P3 as well in their Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO. Two podiums, no damages and smiling faces.
The Sunday delivered ups and downs: great success and fate of racing – or racing decisions – that left us unsatisfied. After the close to perfect qualifying with P1, P2 and P11 we headed into the race. But who could have imagined that it would be nearly as crazy as yesterday! #80 with Ivan Velasco and Jorge Cabezas delivered a perfect run, even egalizing the 20s handicap we are running on! Steven Liquorish and Luca Ludwig on the #81 worked themselves with incredible speed and were kicked back to a P7 due to a 5s penalty we could not really live with. But this was the decision. Most unfortunate was our #19 with Stefano Bozzoni and Fernando Navarrete who aimed directly at the top 7/8 and got taken out of the race during a race accident we will argue weeks about. But – clearly extended the PROAM drivers championship and keeping it open until Barcelona for the team championship!
The Sunday delivered ups and downs: great success and fate of racing – or racing decisions – that left us unsatisfied. After the close to perfect qualifying with P1, P2 and P11 we headed into the race. But who could have imagined that it would be nearly as crazy as yesterday! #80 with Ivan Velasco and Jorge Cabezas delivered a perfect run, even egalizing the 20s handicap we are running on! Steven Liquorish and Luca Ludwig on the #81 worked themselves with incredible speed and were kicked back to a P7 due to a 5s penalty we could not really live with. But this was the decision. Most unfortunate was our #19 with Stefano Bozzoni and Fernando Navarrete who aimed directly at the top 7/8 and got taken out of the race during a race accident we will argue weeks about. But – clearly extended the PROAM drivers championship and keeping it open until Barcelona for the team championship!
