It was a good weekends work at Monza. We came away with a second place in the PRO class and fourth on the road overall. With a grid of 60 cars and the frenetic racing that goes on at this track, that was a good return, especially considering there were a lot of new factory drivers out there and also some new models of cars.
The Ferraris and the new Lamborghini were so fast on the straights that it was genuinely difficult to compete, especially as Monza is track that benefits ultimate power.
We qualified in P10 which wasn’t totally unexpected really. We know that Monza is not the best track for the Bentley Continental GT3 but we made the most of the sessions and came away with a decent platform to build a race upon.
The race itself was pretty much trouble free. Guy (Smith) and then Andy (Meyrick) did solid jobs of climbing up through the field to P6.
When I got in for the final hour I was hunting down champion Laurens Vanthoor in the Audi but my progress was halted when I got punted in to a spin at the Variante Roggia by a Ferrari which I had just lapped!
I couldn’t believe it but managed to re-join quickly. I then went maximum attack and was closing on Duncan Cameron in the AF Corse Ferrari but we ran out of time to pass him. We finished fifth on the road but with the disqualification of the winning Lamborghini we were fourth overall and second in the PRO class.
It was another job well done by the M-Sport Bentley team and it gives us a nice position to mount a championship attack. It will be super hard because there are so many PRO class competitors compared to last season. Thanks again to the team who were outstanding in preparation, strategy and the pit drills.
We know is that we have the best team in the business and with me, Andy and Guy we have such a close-knit squad that we are confident that we can go to Silverstone and defend the trophy we won last season. We’ll be giving it our all that’s for sure.
A week before Silverstone though we head to the Nurburgring 24 Hours on May 16/17. That will be a tough event but I am sure it will be a great adventure. I’ll let you know all about it right here on my website next month.
Until next time
Steven