We are back at Monza this weekend, one of the fastest and most famous tracks of the GT World season. The Temple of Speed is always a special place to race, with long straights and heavy braking zones.
For Matisse, this is already his third time racing at Monza. Each visit has come with a different brand. In 2024 he was here with Aston Martin, in 2025 with Corvette, and this year he returns with BMW.
That makes this weekend another new challenge, even if the track is familiar. With 57 cars on the entry list, traffic will play a big role in every session. Finding a clear lap will not be easy, and staying out of trouble will be just as important as outright pace.
Monza looks simple on paper, but is never easy in practice. It is all about top speed, braking confidence and getting the timing right.
RACE
Starting from P12 in the Silver Cup and P41 overall, the #30 Team WRT BMW faced a tough task in the three-hour race at Monza. In a chaotic race full of incidents and interruptions, the team stayed focused, made the right strategy calls and delivered a consistent drive from start to finish.
That combination proved key. After three demanding hours, the car crossed the line P6 in the Silver Cup and P17 overall, gaining 24 places in the overall classification.
The race itself was full of drama from the opening lap. It started with a big crash into Turn 1, but the #30 Team WRT BMW stayed out of trouble and avoided the incident. Matisse took the start of the race and immediately gained positions, despite some light contact in the first corners.
Amaury took over for the middle stint, before Nacho brought the car to the finish. With the race immediately neutralised under Full Course Yellow after the opening lap crash, the team reacted quickly and brought the car in for its first pit stop. By the time the race went green again, three pit stops had already been completed.
That early strategy move helped the #30 car climb from P41 overall to P16, while running P7 in the Silver Cup at the restart. From there, the race continued to be shaped by Full Course Yellows and Safety Cars, making it difficult for the field to find a steady rhythm.
“We started P12 in our class and I had a good start,” Matisse explained after the race. “There was a bit of contact, but nothing too serious, and I immediately gained some positions, which was good. Strategy wise we were really different compared to the others, and looking at how the race developed, it was the right thing to do.”
Another crash in the closing stages meant the race finished under Safety car, bringing an eventful afternoon to an unusual end. It also cost the #30 car a possible podium result in the Silver Cup.
“Unfortunately, we were unlucky with the Full Course Yellow at the end,” Matisse added. “Without that, we could have been P3. In the end we finished P6. The three of us did the job, we drove well and didn’t make mistakes. We can be happy, even if we are also a bit disappointed because we hoped for more. That is racing. Sometimes you have luck, sometimes you don’t.”
In the end, staying out of trouble, reacting at the right moments and keeping focus through every interruption made the difference. The result marked a strong recovery drive for the #30 Team WRT BMW on a demanding afternoon at the Temple of Speed.
Photocredit Noah Beaujean
Qualifying at Monza started with a 20-minute delay due to an incident during this morning’s hardship lap.
Each driver had 10 minutes to set a fast lap in his qualifying window, with the average of the three lap times deciding the final starting order for this afternoon’s race. So every run was important.
For each qualifying session, the field was split into two groups, with the Silver and Bronze cars in Group A and the Pro and Gold cars in Group B. All sessions ran without incidents.
Montenegro was first in the #30 Team WRT BMW and qualified P11 in the Silver Cup with a 1:46.902. Matisse then took over for Q2 and set his best time on his second push lap, a 1:46.624, finishing P10 in his session. Cordeel was the last to take the track, setting a 1:46.708 to place P15 in his run.
With the three times combined, the car classified P12 in the Silver Cup and will start P41 overall. With 57 cars on the grid, the team faces a tough task this afternoon and will need to work hard to gain positions during the three-hour race, which gets underway this afternoon at 15:40.
Photocredit Noah Beaujean
The second Free Practice session at Monza started at 14:33, giving the team another 90 minutes to test different settings and fine tune the car ahead of tomorrow. With high track temperatures (53,8°C), conditions were demanding and finding the right balance remained a key focus.
The session was interrupted once by a red flag, but the team was still able to work through its planned programme. Matisse started the session, followed by Amaury for the second run, with Nacho taking over for the final part.
The car finished P14 in the Silver Cup, in what proved to be another challenging session for the BMW runners, who all seemed to struggle to find outright pace around Monza. Nacho set the fastest lap of the crew with a 1:47.091.
Focus now shifts to tomorrow morning’s qualifying session at 09:35, which will decide the grid for Sunday afternoon’s three-hour race, starting at 15:30.
Photocredit Noah Beaujean
The first Free Practice session at Monza got underway at 09:00 for 90 minutes of running, with air temperatures around 25 degrees and track temperatures already reaching 35 degrees. The session was interrupted twice by red flags, the first coming almost immediately after the session went green.
Nacho was first at the wheel of the #30 BMW GT3 Team WRT, the team worked through the planned programme with all drivers completing two stints. Matisse was the final driver in the car, bringing the session to a close.
Cordeel set the fastest time among the crew (1:47.354), while the car finished P16 in the Silver Cup. It was a session focused on mileage and learning, but the team struggled to find the pace they were looking for.
Work will continue on the setup ahead of the second Free Practice session this afternoon, with more track time still to come at the Temple of Speed.
Photocredit Michele Scudiero
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