- Lionspeed GP taken out on opening lap through no fault of its own
- First DNF of the season in debut GTWC Europe campaign
Lionspeed GP experienced a race to forget during the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup round of Monza after it was taken out on the opening lap. Through no fault of his own, Michael Verhagen was eliminated after getting caught up in a multi-car incident.
Lionspeed arrived at the famed Temple of Speed hoping to build on the solid progress made during the previous Endurance Cup round at the Nürburgring, where it finished second in the Bronze Cup. With an unchanged lineup of Verhagen (NED), Patrick Kolb (GER) and Bastian Buus (DEN), the team was ready to tackle the challenge of racing in a field of over 50 GT3 cars at the legendary Italian circuit.
After using the test and practice sessions to dial in the car and gain track knowledge, the No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R qualified 17th in the highly competitive Bronze Cup class during three-stage qualifying on Sunday morning. With a high rate of attrition likely and the addition of a third mandatory pitstop required for all teams allowing for more variables in strategy, the team was ready to fight its way forward during the three-hour race.
“Our qualifying was compromised by multiple interruptions and red flags which left us towards the back of the grid,” said Kolb. “The third mandatory pitstop, however, gave the team a number of strategic options for us to work our way back up the order. For the start the approach was to minimise risk and get into a good rhythm and from there leave it to our engineers to position the car in clean air for the remaining race.”
Sadly, any hopes of a strong result were dashed when Verhagen was taken out on the opening lap. The Dutchman was navigating the approach to the Variante della Roggia chicane when he was unexpectedly and heavily hit from behind by an out-of-control competitor. The crash ended up eliminating three cars on the spot, including Lionspeed’s No. 80 Porsche.
“I got a good run off the line and was able to gain a number of positions before the braking for the first turn, where I went for a no risk approach, which worked and enabled me to get through the first chicane cleanly,” said Verhagen. “At the second chicane all cars slowed early whereby I chose the inside line to avoid getting pushed out wide. On the turn in I got a massive hit from behind by a competitor who must have seen the slowing cars too late and lost control taking out four cars on the first lap.”
While the crash inflicted significant damage, it also robbed the team of the opportunity of fighting for a strong result in what would later turned out to be an unpredictable and tightly contested race. While Verhagen was thankfully not seriously injured in the crash, Lionspeed would like to express its dissatisfaction and disappointment at the driving conduct shown by some of its competitors to cause this significant incident. As the common saying in endurance racing goes: ‘you can’t win the race on the first lap, but you can definitely lose it.’
Lionspeed GP will now turn its attention to the Endurance Cup finale: a six-hour race on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on November 28-30.
