A difficult start to the season for WINWARD Racing
After a strong start, the German-Texan team has a tough race day at the 2023 GT World Challenge Endurance Cup opener at Monza.
WINWARD Racing ended a difficult opening weekend of the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup at the legendary Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with a result that was satisfactory under the circumstances. In the impressive field of 55 cars from eight different brands, the two Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Altendiez finished 23rd and 26th after three gripping hours.
That put Russell Ward (33, Seabrook/USA), Philip Ellis (30, Zug/CH) and Indy Dontje (30, Alkmaar/NL) in the number 57 car and the junior team of David Schumacher (21, Salzburg), Marius Zug (20, Munich) and Miklas Born (21, Basel/CH) in the number 157 sister car fourth and fifth in the Gold Cup. This classification is reserved for cars whose driver line-up has a combined FIA rating of at most Gold-Gold-Silver.
The race weekend on the 5.8-kilometre, super-fast Grand Prix circuit outside Milan had started more promisingly for the German-Texan team. Already quick in free practice, the two WWR cars signalled their ambitions for a good result in the Gold Cup and overall in pre-qualifying on Saturday afternoon, with the top two places in their class and eighth and 18th overall.
However, an adjustment to the car ratings made by the organisers in the evening reshuffled the cards for race day. In Sunday morning’s three-part qualifying, which could only be held in two segments because of a power cut at the circuit, none of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 could join the fight for the top positions in their classes. Grid positions 28 and 33 overall, and 6 and 7 in the Gold Cup, for the #157 and #57 spoke for themselves.
In the race, both WWR cars survived the turbulent start without notable damage and then joined the heated midfield battles. After three hours delivered flawlessly by drivers and pit crew, the “veterans” in the #57 finished 23rd, three places ahead of the “juniors” in the #157.
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel drew a mixed conclusion from the opening weekend: “Of course we had hoped for a better result, and Saturday’s sessions had gone very well too. But already in qualifying it was clear that all Mercedes-AMG teams would struggle on Sunday. I can’t blame my team – I think we got the maximum out of both cars in the race.”
The second round of the 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS Endurance Cup takes place on 3/4 June with the six-hour race at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet in the south of France.