The Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR (#101, Ivo Breukers / Luc Breukers) has secured a stunning TCE victory at the 12H MONZA, one that looked set to go to the Brutal Fish by KCMG Honda Civic FK7 TCR (#122, Martin Ryba / Daniel Lloyd / Josep Oriola Vila) before mechanical woes struck inside the final 40 minutes of the event.
Having lost track position on Friday afternoon, the Brutal Fish by KCMG Honda had systematically worked its way back up to the front of the TCE division, and was barely two minutes ahead of its nearest rivals when the Honda ground to a halt on the exit of the second Lesmo with less than 30 minutes to go.
After being recovered to the pits, and following a very quick reset, Josep ‘Pepe’ Oriola Vila returned to the track to seal the Hong Kong team its first 24H SERIES podium in 3rd.
Further drama was to follow as the Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Miklas Born / Constantin Kletzer / Yannick Mettler), while running 2nd, went wide at Variante del Rettifilo. This damaged the front left corner of the VW, requiring a precautionary pit stop inside the final 20 minutes.
The Swiss team was far enough ahead though to retain 2nd in-class and take its third consecutive TCR podium of the season.
That meant the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA, despite losing four laps in the early going to suspension failure, completed a strong recovery drive to secure its first TCE class win of the season, Ivo Breukers driving the CUPRA across the line to complete 261 laps of the 5.793km Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. The result means Red Camel-Jordans.nl has also moved up to 2nd in the 24H SERIES Europe TCE standings, just 12 points adrift of reigning Overall TCE Teams’ champion, Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing.
Impressively, all three of the top TCE runners managed to finish 8th, 9th and 10th overall at the 12H MONZA.
The NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing CUPRA TCR (#175, Harry Hilders / Gijs Bessem), which went into the overnight intervention as the TCE leader, completed a solid drive to finish 4th in TCR, just ahead of the TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR (#131, Fabian Danz / Karen Gaillard / Loris Prattes). The second Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#1, Sandro Pelatti / Alberto Vescov / Roberto Ferri / Yannick Mettler) finished 6th.
Having lost almost 30 minutes at the very start of the day, the Autorama Motorsport SEAT Leon Cup Racer V1 (#211, Luigi Stanco / Armando Stanco / Dario Stanco) completed a strong recovery drive to take TCX class victory ahead of the WEC Motorsport BMW E46 M3 (#339, David Cox / Jason Cox / George Haynes). Myriad electrical and gear selector problems scuppered the chances of early TCE leader, Nordschleife Racing (#226, Daniel Waszczinski / Régis Rego de Sebes / Johan Boris Scheier). The Ligier JS2 R nevertheless completed enough laps to be classified 3rd in TCX.
Sadly, despite being in contention for a TCE podium throughout the event, the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, Stéphane Perrin / Vincent Radermecker / Mathieu Detry) was eventually withdrawn with an overheated engine.
Endurance racing action with the 24H SERIES will continue next month with the E-SPORTS 12H BARCELONA on 22 August. Two weeks later, the annual 24H BARCELONA will take place at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 4-5-6 September.
