ZENDELI CONCLUDES POSITIVE GT SEASON AT MONZA WITH ROOKIES’ TITLE AND FOURTH OVERALL IN CHAMPIONSHIP

Oct 6, 2024

Lirim Zendeli wrapped up a positive GT Rookie season at the wheel of his #12 Ombra Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup 992 machine at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza with seventh place in a relatively uneventful second race of the weekend. Today’s result meant that Lirim finished fourth overall in this year’s championship.

The Monaco Increase Management contracted driver, who this year embarked on an intensive first-ever closed-wheel racing campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, yesterday secured the Rookies’ title with a P3 finish after battling throughout a spectacular Race 1.

Unfortunately, after the usual Stewards’ review late in the evening, the young German was handed a 5” penalty, but it did not affect his Rookie title win.

In today’s Race 2, Lirim started from P14 on the grid, one place ahead of two-time World Rally Champion, Kalle Rovanpera (Ghinzani Motorsport) – to whom Lirim had previously handed over Saturday’s trophy for best Rookie – and it was the Finnish driver who gave him the hardest time during the race.

Behind his fellow rookie for much of the 30-minute encounter in P8, Lirim eventually caught up with him and found his way past with an overtake three laps from the flag to take seventh.

“Race 2 was a pretty calm race,” declared Lirim after the chequered flag. “I did some good moves on some people. We absolutely maximized what was possible today. Unfortunately, the race was not as messy as yesterday, with no safety-car to bring the field back together. At the end I got a P7 after doing a very nice overtake on Kalle, well done to him, it was nice racing him. So, we were able to really do great this weekend, we had good fights and we showed good performance. In the end, people saw what I’m capable of and that’s important. The rest is just sometimes whatever happens in Porsche races.”

Lirim’s manager and MIM CEO Salvatore Gandolfo also declared: “It was a positive first season in Porsche GT for Lirim. The Porsche 911 is a very particular machine to handle and Lirim, who started the season with virtually no experience in this sort of car, was up against hardened and competitive drivers in both series. But he was quick to learn and the second half of the season gave us a lot of satisfaction, culminating in the Rookie’s title. Congratulations and a big thanks also to Ombra Racing for their double success and for providing Lirim with a competitive car. I would also like to add that for MIM-contracted drivers, who have always grown in-house at MIM, this has been a fantastic season, because only in 2024, the drivers managed since 2018 have brought great satisfaction by winning three titles!”

It has also been a successful season for Bergamo-based Ombra Racing, which as well as Lirim’s Rookie trophy, also picked up the overall Porsche Carrera Cup Italia title with South African Keagan Masters, who finished third today.