Liam Lawson makes history at Monza

A victory Ferrari on Italian soil came to conclude the first race of the GT3 era in DTM. By Liam Lawson (Ferrari 488 GT3 n°30 – Red Bull AF Corsica), yet only seventh on the grid, the trans brandalpine dominated this inaugural race thanks to a good move in the pit lane.

Vincent Abril (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo n°4 – HRT), who started from pole, dominated the start of the event after passing the first chicane in the lead despite contact with Dani Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo n°8 – GruppeM Racing).

The hierarchy remains stable at the top, the race being barely disturbed by the contact between Dev Gore (Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo n°12 – Team Rosberg) and Timo Glock (BMW M6 GT3 n°16 – ROWE Racing), the Audi remaining stuck in the gravel trap. Timo Glock will also be penalized for the incident.

However, it was in the stands, where Lucas Auer (Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo n°22 – Team Winward) lost big with a stubborn right rear wheel, that Liam Lawson and AF Corse made the right move, with an early stop of a few laps compared to the leaders, which puts Lawson back in the lead ahead of Abril and Maxi Götz once the entire peloton has passed the pitlane.

Lawson will resist the return of the two Mercedes – HRT until the end to win in front of Abril and Götz. Alex Albon (Ferrari 488 GT3 n°23 – Alpha Tauri AF Corse) finished 4th after having made a superb comeback after qualifying outside the top 10.

Dani Juncadella completed the top 5, not without causing contact with Nico Müller (Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo no. 51 – Team Rosberg) at the second chicane.

Kelvin van der Linde (Abt) lifts the best Audi to 6th place, Marco Wittmann placing the best No. 6 BMW M3 GT11 – Walkenhorst Motorsport in 9th position. Esteban Muth finished 11th in his #3 Lamborghini Huracan GT10 Evo – T3 Motorsport.

Esmee Hawkey (Lamborghini – T3 Motorsport) and Sophia Flörsch (Audi – Abt) finished 15th and 16th.

Ranking to come