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Monza Blancpain GT: Porsche squad wins on Endurance Cup debut

Porsche took its first victory in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup for nearly seven years at this season's opening round at Monza

The Italian Dinamic Motorsport squad took the win on its series debut to claim the first Porsche win since the Nurburgring round of what was then known at the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring in September 2012.

Dinamic drivers Klaus Bachler, Zaid Ashkanani and Andrea Rizzoli came through a rain-affected three-hour race that was interrupted by two safety-car periods to take a 14-second victory aboard the new-for-2019 second-generation 991-shape 911 GT3-R.

Bachler was closing on the leading Sainteloc Audi R8 LMS when Christopher Haase was hit by a left rear puncture with 25 minutes of the race left to run.

Former GP3 driver Ashkanani brought the car started from 22nd on the grid by Rizzoli into contention in the middle hour of the race.

The Kuwaiti was running third as the second and final round of pitstops began. Bachler quickly moved into second behind the Sainteloc Audi that Haase shared with Steven Palette and Simon Gachet.

The gap between the two leaders went up to as much as five seconds before Bachler started to make inroads into the Audi's advantage prior to its puncture.

Ashkanani: "I enjoyed my stint at lot, the car was amazing to drive.

"This was my first GT3 race, so it is amazing to win."

The FFF Racing team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo driven by team co-owner Andrea Caldarelli, Marco Mapelli and Dennis Lind took second place after dropping down the order when Lind had an minor off early in the race.

The Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz took third from 14th on the grid.

Felipe Fraga brought the Auto Sport Promotion Mercedes he shared with Nico Bastian and Timur Bogulavskiy up to fourth in the final stint.

The Brazilian overtook the Black Falcon car shared by Hubert Haupt, Patrick Assenheimer and Gabriele Piana to take the lead in the Silver Cup class just eight laps before the chequered flag.

The lead ASP Mercedes ran at the front in Raffaele Marciello's hands in the middle hour of the race in what was ultimately an unsuccessful gamble on slick tyres.

Mirko Bortolotti led early on in best of the Grasser Lamborghinis before the car dropped down the order after Rolf Ineichen was sent out on slicks.

The ASP Mercedes and the Grasser Lamborghini both failed to finish the race, retiring with suspension and electrical issues respectively.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 A.Rizzoli, K.Bachler, Z.Ashkanani Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 77 3h00m08.926s
2 A.Caldarelli, M.Mapelli, D.Lind Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 77 14.852s
3 Y.Buurman, M.Engel, L.Stolz Black Falcon Mercedes 77 17.193s
4 T.Boguslavskiy, F.Fraga, N.Bastian Akka ASP Team Mercedes 77 17.527s
5 H.Haupt, P.Assenheimer, G.Piana Black Falcon Mercedes 77 18.063s
6 A.Buncombe, A.Soucek, M.Soulet Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 77 19.218s
7 K.van der Linde, C.Schmid, N.Foster Attempto Racing Audi 77 27.755s
8 D.Werner, M.Campbell, D.Olsen Rowe Racing Porsche 77 30.543s
9 C.Ledogar, J.Adam, A.Watson Garage 59 Aston Martin 77 37.832s
10 T.Proto, D.Menchaca, M.Beretta Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 77 42.853s
11 L.Mauron, G.Tweraser, A.Santamato GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 77 43.023s
12 J.Pepper, S.Kane, J.Gounon Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 77 45.793s
13 M.McMurry, P.Frommenwiler, S.Moore Jenson Team Rocket RJN Honda 77 59.286s
14 F.Hutchison, K-L.Schramm, I.Pareras Phoenix Racing Audi 77 1m02.998s
15 S.Gachet, S.Palette, C.Haase Sainteloc Racing Audi 77 1m23.647s
16 M.Ramos, A.Amstutz, L.Machitski Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 77 1m25.848s
17 P.Keen, G.Venturini, F.Perera Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 77 1m30.626s
18 D.Vanthoor, A.Riberas, E.P.Companc Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 77 1m32.511s
19 J.Dennis, N.Thiim, M.Kirchhofer R-Motorsport Aston Martin 77 1m48.501s
20 C.Froggatt, C.Buncombe, J.Hui Tempesta Racing Ferrari 77 1m49.907s
21 M.Jaminet, R.Dumas, S.Muller Rowe Racing Porsche 76 1 Lap
22 L.Williamson, D.Gore, J.Hawksworth Strakka Racing Mercedes 76 1 Lap
23 D.Rigon, M.Aleshin, M.Molina SMP Racing Ferrari 76 1 Lap
24 S.Schothorst, P.Schothorst, M.Drudi Attempto Racing Audi 76 1 Lap
25 R.Salikhov, D.Perel, D.Bulatov Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 76 1 Lap
26 S.Mitchell, J.Witt, J.Pull Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 76 1 Lap
27 C.Weerts, R.Breukers, R.Sanchez Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 75 2 Laps
28 C.Lenz, S.Costantini, A.Forne Raton Racing by Target Lamborghini 75 2 Laps
29 F.Michal, P-Y.Paque, M.Winkelhock Sainteloc Racing Audi 75 2 Laps
30 A.West, C.Goodwin Garage 59 Aston Martin 75 2 Laps
31 C-Y.Gosselin, P.Feligioni, R.Kuppens Boutsen Ginion Racing Lamborghini 75 2 Laps
32 F.Barthez, B.Delhez Tech 1 Racing Lexus 75 2 Laps
33 P.Ehret, M.Berry, J.M.Balbiani Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 75 2 Laps
34 C.Hook, S.Parrow, M.Lauck Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 75 2 Laps
35 S.Yoluc, A.Al Harthy, C.Eastwood Oman Racing Team with TF Sport Aston Martin 74 3 Laps
36 F.Scholze, J.Liebhauser, A.Lewandowski HB Racing Ferrari 74 3 Laps
37 M.Vaxiviere, M.Martin, M.Parry R-Motorsport Aston Martin 73 4 Laps
38 R.L.Vos, T.O.-Cole RAM Racing Mercedes 68 9 Laps
39 V.Abril, M.Meadows, R.Marciello Mercedes-AMG Team Akka ASP Mercedes 67 10 Laps
40 M.Bortolotti, R.Ineichen, C.Engelhart GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 62 15 Laps
- K.Ojjeh, P.Steveny, M.Rostan Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW 49 Retirement
- J-L.Beaubelique, M.Ricci, J.Pla Akka ASP Team Mercedes 41 Retirement
- R.Monti, D.Stoneman, S.Gattuso Ombra Racing Lamborghini 37 Retirement
- N.Hommerson, L.Machiels, A.Bertolini Spirit of Race Ferrari 11 Retirement
- D.Roda, G.Cipriani, M.Antonelli Antonelli Motorsport Mercedes 11 Retirement
- D.Pierce, R.Smith, S.Morris Team Parker Racing Bentley 7 Retirement
- S.Davies, A.MacDowall, P.Petit Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 0 Withdrawn
- B.Goethe, S.Hall, J.Grogor GPX Racing Porsche 0 Withdrawn

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