NEWS
VSR CREWS FIRST, SECOND AND FOURTH IN 2024 PRO-AM ITALIAN GT ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP AND SECOND IN THE OVERALL STANDINGS
Oct 27, 2024
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Italian GT Endurance, Round 4 – Monza, Italy
Stadsbader Pro-Am Endurance Champion
Cazzaniga-Di Folco-Liberati runners up in Overall Championship
The 2024 Italian GT season came to an end this weekend with a final Endurance race held at Monza. Unchanged line-ups for VSR saw Championship contenders Cazzaniga, Di Folco and Liberati once more together in the 19 Pro car, the 63 Pro-Am Lamborghini in the hands of Guidetti, Moulin and Tribaudini and the sister 66 Pro-Am car driven by Michelotto, Stadsbader and Zanon. Rain met the teams on Friday morning and both the day’s sessions as well as Saturday morning’s free practice were run in variable track conditions. The circuit was fully wet for Saturday afternoon’s qualifying. The gird was set by the combined times of all three sessions and the 19 drivers earned themselves a front row start, finishing up second fastest overall. Pro-Am pole went to the 63 drivers with the 66 car just two places further back.
The track was dry for the three-hour race and Di Folco, Moulin and Stadsbader took the start. At the first chicane Di Folco fell back to fifth whilst Moulin got up alongside Fisichella and slotted into second. Chaos behind saw Stadsbader collected by Aka’s Audi which left the 66 car down in sixteenth. By lap four Di Folco was up to third and two laps later swapped places with Moulin. As Stadsbader worked his way back up to eleventh the race was put under Full Course Yellow for a Mercedes on fire. The Safety Car regrouped the field and racing resumed just before the first pit window. Stadsbader was the first of the VSR cars to stop, handing over to Zanon. Di Folco and Moulin followed him from second and third. The 19 car had four and half seconds handicap to discount but Liberati still rejoined in second, just ahead of Tribaudini in third. A great job by Stadsbader and Zanon during the pit window moved them up to sixth, second in Pro-Am. As the race continued Liberati quickly closed on Leclerc out front and had the gap down to less than a second by lap nineteen. The second pit window opened on lap twenty-six and Zanon boxed the 66 straightaway for Michelotto. A lap later Tribaudini bought the 63 in for Guidetti and Liberati stopped two laps later. Despite another four and a half seconds success handicap Cazzaniga took the 19 back into the race still holding second. As the pit window closed Guidetti was back in third and Michelotto up to fifth. A Full Course Yellow for a multi-car incident on lap thirty-seven meant the third pit window opened with the cars cruising around at 80kph. Cazzaniga pitted for Liberati on lap forty, following in Mosca’s Ferrari. Michelotto came in too and Zanon got on board the 66 for his second stint. Guidetti stopped a lap later and Tribaudini took over the Pro-Am leading machine. On lap forty-two the Safety Car came out and racing finally resumed two laps later.
Fisichella and Liberati were separated by barely more than a second throughout the fourth stint as Tribaudini fought off Aka. When the next pit window opened on lap fifty-one Tribaudini and Zanon pitted early for Moulin and Michelotto. Liberati and the leading Ferrari pitted at the end of the window and the battle for the lead was resumed, this time between Leclerc and Cazzaniga. In Pro-Am the two VSR cars were separated by nothing with Moulin keeping ahead of Michelotto as the stint progressed. On lap fifty-eight Cazzaniga took advantage of a backmarker to make a move on Leclerc and take the lead of the race with forty-five minutes to go. On lap sixty-one a puncture for Mazzola’s Audi promoted the two VSR Pro-Am cars to third and fourth overall and instigated the race’s third Full Course Yellow period. A Safety Car period followed and the track went green again just as the final pit window opened. On lap sixty-seven Michelotto bought the 66 in for the final time and Stadsbader jumped in for the run to the flag. A lap later Cazzaniga pitted from the lead, closely followed by the Ferrari and Moulin in third. Di Folco and Guidetti rejoined the race with Mosca’s Ferrari sandwiched between the two VSR Lambos. With fifteen minutes left to run side-by-side action between Di Folco and Mosca ended with the Lamborghini still ahead and Guidetti closing in on the battle for first. With five minutes to go contact between the three cars ended with Guidetti limping back to the pits with a puncture as the Ferrari took the lead. At the chequered flag it was Mosca, Di Folco and Stadsbader in third. A raft of post-race protests, appeals and penalties saw the final classification remain sub-judice with the Stadsbader-Michelotto-Zanon promoted to second overall ahead of the 19. The 66 crew’s crushing Pro-Am victory sealed the 2024 title for Stadsbader and moved Michelotto up to second whilst the drivers of the 19 car had to be content with the runner’s up spot in the overall standings. Despite their late race puncture Giudetti-Moulin-Tribaudini scored enough points to take fourth in the Pro-Am standings.
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