Dan McKay announced his arrival onto the international stage with a superb double victory at Monza to open the GT4 European Series last weekend (April 12-14) alongside team-mate Benjamin Lessennes in their Equipe Verschuur McLaren 570S GT4.
Dan almost secured a debut pole position in qualifying, missing out on the top spot by a miniscule 0.007s despite being held up on his quickest lap, while colleague Benjamin put in a strong performance to finish fourth quickest of the 36 entrants.
Taking the opening stint in race one, Dan made a swift move to take the lead out of the first chicane on the opening lap and controlled a safety car restart to perfection before handing driving duties over to his team-mate. Benjamin had a few incidents to navigate through, fighting with the leaders right to the end, before snatching back the lead with five minutes remaining in the one-hour contest.
Starting race two in second once again after two rivals were demoted due to infringements, Benjamin this time took the opening stint in poor conditions but kept his cool to hand over to Dan without any drama. Driver change complete, Dan left the pits in second place but caught and passed the leader within four corners before opening a two-second gap on the same lap. From then on it was a case of making no mistakes to take the chequered flag by an impressive nine seconds.
Championship leaders Dan and Benjamin now look forward to two tough races at the world-famous Brands Hatch on May 4/5, where they will be hoping to continue their strong start to the season in front of Dan’s home crowd.
Dan McKay
“We knew we had a good chance of scoring some strong points at Monza due to the strengths of the McLaren 570s GT4, but having never been to the circuit before the weekend, I knew it would be a tough ask to be right up at the front of the field.
“To leave with two wins and the lead of the championship is the perfect start to the year, and gives us a great starting point to challenge for the title throughout the season. I can’t wait for my home race at Brands Hatch next time out, and hope that we will be up at the sharp end of the grid once again.”
Source. Torque
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