Iván Velasco and Luca Ludwig are the 2024 Champions of the GT Cup Europe after winning the last race of the season today in Monza in their Ferrari 488 Challenge of Mertel Motorsport. The Spaniard and the German team take a second consecutive title, while for the German driver, who lived a busy weekend between Monza and the Ferrari WF in Imola, it is the first crown in the series.
The other verdict of the day is that Leandro Martins and Dieter Svepes are the Am class champion. The Brazilian-Austrian pair of the Porsche of Portuguese RACAR Motorpsort also rubricated its crown with a success, their seventh.
The fight for the overall in reality was resolved early in this decisive race with three contenders. The starting grid saw Lodovico Laurini (Racevent Porsche) and Nathan Brauns (Q1 Porsche) in first row but the start ws chaotic as one of the title contenders, Nico Saelens in the Q1 car shared with Stienes Longin, starting from raw started to rub with rivals on both sides and then missed the braking at first corner. The confusion sent Brauns and Leonov out of the track and provoked the retirement of Saelens at Lesmo, as his car had been clearly damaged.
The safety car was out as Babini was leading ahead of Laurini, Ludwig, Peroni, Speakerwas, Trentin, Vandierendonck and the other title candidate, Luvisi. Action was short-lived after the restart as a new incident prompted the safety-car out. This time it was Zelger trying to overtake Vandierendonck on the outside at the end of the straight, which sent the Belgian sideways into Lovati. The three cars were out and the fight for the Am title sentenced as Vandierendonck was the last rival of the RACAR pair.
The rae restarted for good in lap 7 with Laurini passing Babini for the before the pit stop (lap 9) although he would receive a 3-second penalty for having gained an advantage overtaking partly out of the track. That meant Velasco won the race despite crossing the line in second while Berton, who was bound to third, lost the podium finish at the very end against Al Rifai, finally vice champion with Luvisi.
In Am, behind Svepes-Martins, Vandevelde-Brauns took second after a good recovery ahead of Tincescu-Perian who took their fourth podium finish of the season.
The special Ladies’ Trophy went to Annie Frosio, ahead of Alba Vázquez and Laura van den Hengel.