+ Result: Race 2, Monza
David Thilenius and Jay Mo Härtling gave SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm its maiden outright GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli victory in Race 2 at Monza, leading a Mercedes-AMG one-two.
Taking the start from pole, Härtling maintained his advantage into the Rettifilo chicane with the twin NM cars of Nil Montserrat and Adrián Ferrer slotting into second and third respectively, the latter leading the Silver classification.
Two of the main contenders were removed from proceedings during the opening stages. Yesterday's winner Antoine Potty (#6 i4Race Maserati) suffered tyre damage at the start of lap two and retired before making it back to the pits, while the #18 LP Racing Maserati pulled in with terminal problems after just five minutes.
The order at the front remained stable during the first stint, with Härtling edging three seconds clear of Montserrat. In doing so the German set the fastest lap of the race up to this point, something that will count in his favour when SRO GT Academy points are awarded.
The pit stops produced little in the way of change. Thilenius retained the lead after taking over the #111 Mercedes-AMG from Härtling, while the #115 NM machine held on to second with Alberto De Martin now at the wheel. There was a brief swap when Marius Aigner (#119 MZR KTM) made a robust move on the NM driver into Parabolica, but the Austrian was almost immediately pegged back by a drive-through for speeding the pit lane.
The man on the move was Oxley, who had taken over the #116 Mercedes-AMG from Ferrer and was running a second a lap faster than the leading Pro-Am cars. The youngster first caught and passed teammate De Martin for P2 overall, making a controlled move into Rettifilo with nine minutes to go.
Shortly afterwards Oxley passed Thilenius for P1 at Parabolica, but he still had work ahead of him. Race control ruled that the #116 NM Mercedes-AMG had not completed its pit stop in full, seemingly missing its compensation time for finishing third in class on Saturday. To correct this, the car was handed a 12-second penalty.
The overall victory was now gone, but Oxley could still claim Silver Cup honours. He set the fastest lap of the race on his final tour, but fell just short of fending off Mikkel Njor (#3 CMR Ginetta), who completed the overall podium and grabbed the class honours, which will aid his and Ethan Gialdini's SRO GT Academy hopes.
On the revised order, the Thilenius/Härtling Mercedes-AMG wrapped up overall victory and completed a sweep of this weekend’s Pro-Am class wins, beating the De Martin/Montserrat car by almost four seconds. Njor and Ethan Gialdini were third (winning in Silver) aboard their Ginetta, followed by Oxley/Ferrer's Mercedes-AMG and Masters class winner Philippe Prette. The #1 LP Racing Maserati has now taken eight straight wins, a run that stretches back to the middle of last season and shows no sign of ending. Once again, the Monegasque overcame the maximum pit stop compensation time to slip past the RTR Projects Mercedes-AMG, which was started by Petr Lisa and handed to Ondrej Rokos.
The GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli continues its 2026 season as part of SRO Spa Speedweek. Staged one week before the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, this free-to-attend event is schedule for 20-21 June at the legendary Belgian venue.
