Monza ELMS: Panis Racing beats United for maiden win

The first part of the race was an all-out battle between championship contenders G-Drive Racing, Team WRT and United Autosports with reigning champion Phil Hanson in the sole United car taking the lead from the pole-sitting #26 G-Drive car driven by Roman Rusinov just before the first pitstops.

Rusinov's race was compromised when he ran out of fuel following a safety car brought out to recover the #77 WeatherTech Racing Porsche from the Lesmo gravel trap. The 2018 champion would eventually finish one lap down in eighth together with Mikkel Jensen and Franco Colapinto.

Several race interruptions brought other teams in the fray, including the Panis Racing team that had started eighth but moved into second after the first stops with Canal at the wheel.

The lead changed hands during the second round of pitstops when Allen climbed aboard, and the Australian kept United's Jonathan Aberdein at bay before handing over to Stevens for the final stint, the ex-Formula 1 driver able to fend off United’s Tom Gamble for the win.

Behind the guesting JOTA Oreca of Jazeman Jaafar and Sean Gelael - using the event to prepare for next weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship round at Monza - championship leader WRT continued its consistent points-scoring run with fourth for Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yi Yifei.

Almost the entire LMP2 Pro-Am field led at some time or another, but a well-executed strategy and a strong final stint from former F1 Roberto Merhi gave the #25 G-Drive machine he shared with Jon Falb and Rui Andrade class honours in sixth overall.

#65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson: Julien Canal, Will Stevens, James Allen

Photo by: Paolo Belletti

The LMP3 class provided a vast array of strategies, with the difference between a win and a top 10 result often decided by an unlucky full course yellow. The pole-sitting DKR Engineering Duqueine used the final full course yellow of the race, ironically following an incident in which the team itself was involved, to secure a win for Laurens Horr and Matthieu de Barbuat.

The GTE class proved to be an all-Ferrari fight between the Spirit of Race and Iron Lynx teams, who were often only separated by a few tenths of a second.

The battle between Spirit of Race's David Perel and Miguel Molina proved especially riveting, and the South African held firm throughout the final stints to join Duncan Cameron and Alessandro Pier Guidi on the top step of the podium.

Perel dedicated the win to absent teammate Matt Griffin, who withdrew from the event following the sudden passing of his father.

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap
1	65	Julien Canal Will Stevens James Allen	Oreca 07	125
2	22	Philip Hanson Jonathan Aberdein Tom Gamble	Oreca 07	125	5.131
3	82	Jazeman Jaafar Sean Gelael	Oreca 07	125	34.420
4	41	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Ye Yifei	Oreca 07	125	41.783
5	30	Tristan Gommendy Rene Binder Memo Rojas	Oreca 07	124
6	25	John Falb Rui Andrade Roberto Merhi	Aurus 01	124	1 Lap
7	34	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Logan Sargeant	Oreca 07	124	1 Lap
8	26	Roman Rusinov Franco Colapinto Mikkel Jensen	Aurus 01	124	1 Lap
9	28	Paul Lafargue Paul-Loup Chatin Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07	124	1 Lap
10	24	Diego Menchaca Ferdinand Habsburg Richard Bradley	Oreca 07	124	1 Lap
11	29	Matthieu Lahaye Jean Baptiste Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	124	1 Lap
12	37	Alexandre Coigny Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga	Oreca 07	123
13	92	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde	Oreca 07	123	2 Laps
14	70	Esteban Garcia Loic Duval	Oreca 07	123	2 Laps
15	17	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel	Oreca 07	122
16	39	Vincent Capillaire Maxime Robin Arnold Robin	Oreca 07	122	3 Laps
17	21	Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Juan Pablo Montoya	Oreca 07	122	3 Laps
18	35	Francesco Dracone Sergio Campana Markus Pommer	Oreca 07	122	3 Laps
19	4	Laurents Hörr Mathieu de	Duqueine M30 - D08	119
20	2	Wayne Boyd Robert Wheldon Edouard Cauhaupe	Ligier JS P320	119	6 Laps
21	13	Martin Hippe Mattia Pasini Ugo De	Ligier JS P320	119	6 Laps
22	19	Nicolas Maulini Matthew Bell Niklas Kruetten	Ligier JS P320	119	6 Laps
23	20	Rob Hodes Garett Grist Charles Crews	Ligier JS P320	118
24	5	Cresp Christophe Fabien Lavergne Adrien Chila	Ligier JS P320	118	7 Laps
25	14	Erwin Creed Marius Zug Mateusz Kaprzyk	Ligier JS P320	118	7 Laps
26	18	Alessandro Bressan Andreas Laskaratos Damiano Fioravanti	Ligier JS P320	118	7 Laps
27	15	Mike Benham Alex Kapadia Malthe Jakobsen	Ligier JS P320	117
28	3	James McGuire Duncan Tappy Andrew Bentley	Ligier JS P320	117	8 Laps
29	55	Duncan Cameron Alessandro Pier Guidi David Perel	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
30	80	Matteo Cressoni Rino Mastronardi Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
31	88	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Alessio Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
32	12	David Hauser Gary Hauser Tom Cloet	Duqueine M30 - D08	117	8 Laps
33	66	Jody Fannin Andrea Fontana Rodrigo Sales	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
34	60	Claudio Schiavoni Giorgio Sernagiotto Paolo Ruberti	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
35	83	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Manuela Gostner	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	117	8 Laps
36	6	Nick Adcock Austin McCusker Max Koebolt	Ligier JS P320	117	8 Laps
37	93	Michael Fassbender Felipe Fernández Laser Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	116
38	95	John Hartshorne Ross Gunn Ollie Hancock	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	115
39	77	Christian Ried Cooper MacNeil Gianmaria Bruni	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	115	10 Laps
40	8	Eric Trouillet Sebastien Page David Droux	Ligier JS P320	111
41	9	Matthias Kaiser Rory Penttinen	Ligier JS P320	99
42	7	Tony Wells Colin Noble Jr.	Ligier JS P320	79
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