Lirim Zendeli (Ombra Racing) picked up the 2024 Porsche Carrera Cup Italia Rookies trophy with a fantastic race 1 performance that secured him a P3 podium finish at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, as Marvin Klein (Target Competition) took the chequered flag for the overall win.
In what was undoubtedly the best race of his rookie season in a Porsche GT car, the MIM-contracted driver finished third after race-long battles with his Ombra Racing team-mates Keagan Masters and Oliver Gray, as well as with Simone Iaquinta (Ghinzani Motorsport).
Starting 12th on the grid after never being able to establish a comfortable set-up with his Porsche 911 GT3 Cup machine in qualifying, Lirim’s first lucky break came ten minutes into the 30-minute race when Larry Ten Voorde (Enrico Fulgenzi Racing) took out Robert De Haan (Target Competition) in a double-Dutch encounter at the first chicane, and in the ensuing melee Lirim’s closest rival for the Rookie title, Francesco Braschi (Dinamic Motorsport) was also taken out of contention.
On the restart, Lirim soon passed Diego Bertonelli (TDE) for sixth at the mid-point and then Janne Stiak (Target Competition) for fifth, before notching up the fastest race lap of 1m49.060s at the time, with ten minutes remaining.
A further five-minute safety-car period left the top-5 all bunched together for the final sprint to the line, and here Lirim kept a cool head amidst all the various contacts at the Primo Variante, with some aggressive but fair driving against Iaquinta and Gray, all the while holding off Masters for third place.
“For sure that was one of the best races of the year for me,” said a delighted Zendeli after the podium. “I just hope it’s OK because I cut the corner two times, but on both occasions, I gave up the place. I was on for P2 but Iaquinta was a bit too much! Both Gray and Iaquinta sent me wide on the final lap and Iaquinta completely slammed into me. I was already in front, I knew I had to give Iaquinta the position back, but not Oliver. Today I was fast, I didn’t have any testing here or any real practice, and I made a lot of mistakes but when I got it right, I was fast. I was just a bit scared to push even more because I wanted to keep my position. Now I know exactly what to do tomorrow, I know where everyone was making mistakes. I was doing mistakes in Lesmo too, I lost a lot of time there but I’m very fast in the first chicane and very fast in the Parabolica, and the only thing I’m lacking is a bit of straight-line speed.”
Tomorrow’s final race of the 2024 PCCI season, with Lirim again having it all to do from a P14 starting position, will get the green light at 12.40.
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
