RNW Staff

The 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season launched in spectacular fashion on Sunday afternoon when Monza played host to another rain-hit Endurance Cup classic.

International GT racer Jordan Witt experienced mixed fortunes during the opening event of the inaugural Fanatec GT2 European Series at Monza in Italy over the weekend, 17th/18th April, with a best result of fifth place in Pro-Am along with Toro Verde GT team-mate David Fairbrother.

RLR MSport opened its 2021 account with a hard-earned podium in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) 4 Hours of Barcelona (16-18 April).

Reigning Silver Cup Champion Alex MacDowall got his 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Powered by AWS season off to a points-scoring start at Monza in Italy on Sunday, 18th April, with a ninth place finish during an incident packed, and rain-hit, three hour race.

British-Korean driver Jack Aitken endured a frustrating start to his GT career at Monza – as he didn’t even get to drive the car in the race. Round one of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS series, the premier championship for GT cars in Europe, marked Jack’s debut in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo run by Swiss team Emil Frey Racing.

With a victory and a one-two finish, Audi Sport customer racing celebrated a convincing start to the new GT2 European Series. All three customer teams relying on the Audi R8 LMS GT2 recorded podium finishes – two of them even victories. In Europe and Asia, three other Audi Sport customer racing models clinched a total of ten trophies.

The Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Customer Racing Teams got the new season of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS off to a successful start. In the opening race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Raffaele Marciello (ITA), Daniel Juncadella (ESP) and Jules Gounon (FRA) finished second overall with the #88 Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP entry. In the Silver Cup, the #57 WINWARD Racing car with Philip Ellis (SUI), Mikael Grenier (CAN) and Russell Ward (USA) also achieved a podium finish with third place in class (seventh place overall). With eleven Mercedes-AMG GT3s, the performance and sports car brand from Affalterbach was the manufacturer with the largest contingent in the first-class field of participants. 

United Autosports finished the opening round of the 2021 European Le Mans Series on the podium after the #22 Oreca 07 of Phil Hanson, Tom Gamble and Jonathan Aberdein finished third in Barcelona, Spain yesterday.

BMW Junior Team ace Daniel Harper produced eye-catching pace on his long-awaited GT3 category debut on Saturday (17th April) as he recorded an impressive top ten finish in the second event of the 2021 Nürburgring Endurance Series.

1AIM Villorba Corse made a brilliant season debut and the team almost reached the podium in the 4 Hours of Barcelona, first round of the 2021 European Le Mans Series. The Italian team led by Raimondo Amadio took a fourth place with Italian drivers Alessandro Bressan and Damiano Fioravanti and their Greek teammate Andreas Laskaratos on the #18 Ligier JS P320 powered by Nissan of the LMP3 class.

The French team showed up in Spain at the beginning of the week for the official tests followed by the highly awaited first race of the season in the European Le Mans Series championship, around the 4.675-kilometre Barcelona-Catalunya track.

Aston Martin Racing partner team Garage 59 got their 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (GTWC) Pro-Am class title defence off to the perfect start with victory at Monza for Alexander West (SWE), works driver Jonny Adam (GB) and Chris Goodwin (GB).

COOL Racing secured victory in the LMP3 class in the opening race of the 2021 European Le Mans Series and a podium in the LMP2 Pro-Am category.

PK Carsport’s Pro-Am duo Peter Guelinckx and Bert Longin bounced back from their frustrating result on Saturday to claim victory in the second Fanatec GT2 European Series race at Monza (18 April).

Imperiale Racing’s Alberto Di Folco produced an utterly dominant performance to take a lights-to-flag victory in the second Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe race of the weekend at Monza. The experienced Italian, driving solo, beat the Leipert Motorsport duo of Noah Watt and Sebastian Balthasar by just over eight seconds, while Raúl Guzman and Glenn van Berlo (Target Racing) completed the podium in third.

RLR MSport snatched victory in the opening round of the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (16-17 April).

Returning duo Maurice Smith and Matt Bell scored a good haul of points during the Michelin Le Mans Cup opener in Barcelona. Onboard the #69 Ligier JS P320, the pair rose through the order from seventh on the grid to fight for a place on the podium. Bell was running second before his final pit stop when an unfortunately timed Full Course Yellow period allowed others to pass him, bringing the car home fourth.

United Autosports scored a double podium at the opening round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup as Gerry Kraut and Scott Andrews finished second and John Schauerman and Wayne Boyd finished third in Barcelona, Spain.

In the delayed season opener of the Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS), the Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing Teams score multiple class achievements. With first place in the SP9 Am class (13th place overall) by the #9 GetSpeed Performance entry, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 got its season at the Nordschleife off to a successful start in the 45th NIMEX DMV 4h-Rennen. The Mercedes-AMG GT4 also continues its successful streak in the NLS: after four hours of racing, BLACK FALCON Team TEXTAR (P1 for #140 and P2 for #141) secures a 1-2 in the merged SP4T and SP8T classes. The #162 Schnitzelalm Racing entry adds another victory in the SP10 class. Following the cancellation of the first round due to the weather, the customer teams now racked up relevant initial mileage in testing to be perfectly sorted for the season highlight, the ADAC Total 24h race (3-6 June). 

United Autosports’ Charlie Fagg and Bailey Voisin claimed an impressive victory in the team’s maiden GT4 European Series race at Monza. The #23 McLaren came out on top in a drama-filled season opener.