MIM-contracted driver Lirim Zendeli came away from an action-packed final round of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup series at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with an eventual twelfth place, a result that earned the Ombra Racing driver a P3 podium finish in the Rookies category at the chequered flag.
It was a bit of a turbulent weekend for the 24-year-old German, who had been confident about the Monza finale, but a good race result was seriously compromised in Saturday qualifying when he was unable to slipstream his way to a quick time and could qualify no higher than P24, after also picking up a five-place penalty for failing to respect the yellow flags.
The 15-lap race, which crowned Dutchman Larry ten Voorde (Schumacher CLRT) champion for the third time, then turned into a typical bruising Monza encounter, with short-cuts through the chicanes, gravel thrown all over the asphalt by the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup drivers, and numerous examples of body contact between the record number of 32 entrants.
As a result, nine of the 15 laps were run behind the Safety-Car, and in the short time available, Lirim was able to make some progress through the field, passing a couple of drivers ahead of him and moving up to P16 by the mid-point.
With his closest rivals in the Rookies’ classification Theo Oeverhaus (BWT Lechner) and Mathys Jaubert (Martinet by Almeras) finishing behind him, an eventual P12 at the chequered flag was not quite sufficient for Lirim to finish ahead in the final Rookies’ classification, where he missed out on third place by three points.
Lirim gained a position in the final race classification when his Ombra Racing teammate Risto Vukov, who finished in ninth place, was penalized five seconds for causing a collision. This means that Lirim was moved up to P11.
“I have to say that I’m a bit disappointed because I missed a rookie Championship P3 by three points,” declared Lirim. “The problem was that my qualifying was not amazing, and plus the penalty so instead of starting P19, I started P24. You can see, for example, my teammate who went from P19, he was in P8 in the first two laps, so that was really a shame for me. But all in all I was it was great fun to drive and I hope this has been just a small taste of what’s maybe coming in the future. I’ll be super happy to drive in Supercup again, and to start the year on a different level. It was a very good experience, just a bit up and down because of the new tracks and all the time, it was the first time, and also I went into some of the races without testing, so it’s been super difficult.”
Zendeli’s 2024 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup adventure now comes to an end with an overall eleventh in the standings, but the German youngster will be back on track again shortly in his Ombra Racing Porsche in the final three rounds of the Carrera Cup Italia championship, the first of which will be held next weekend at Imola.
