THR GPL 7 - Round 1, Monza
Monza’s 1966 layout is a racer’s lie detector: long drags, big tow, and nowhere to hide. It was the perfect stage for the launch of THR’s GPL 7 season - and Florian Masse used it to deliver a statement win. While chaos simmered just behind, the Honda RA300 ran like a metronome at the head of a snarling draft train. FMG carved from P9 to second, and meisterJaeger completed a no‑nonsense podium. For polesitter Simone Porcu, the afternoon became a damage‑limitation exercise after a bruising first few laps.
A front row by eyelashes
Qualifying set up a classic: Porcu’s Eagle T1G on pole with 1:26.472, Masse’s Honda just 0.036 s slower, and Flashor’s Lotus 49 a whisper behind. Eleven cars covered by three‑quarters of a second promised elbows‑out into Curva Grande -and the race obliged.
Start: control vs. chaos (Lap 1–3)
The lights went out and the grid split into two stories. At the front, Masse slipped into Porcu’s tow and then into clean air as the poleman found himself in a knife fight with Flashor - they banged wheels on Lap 1 and again on Lap 2, Porcu also brushing the barrier. The midfield detonated: Stefano Bucci and Nat Stevenson touched at the launch; Bucci tapped gilvil77 later in the opening lap; and a Curva Grande accordion gathered FMG, Davide Saìu and Elia Porcu. By Lap 3 Bucci had already kissed the Armco again, the first hint that attrition would bite.
Masse disappears, FMG appears (Lap 4–20)
With clear air, Masse turned the screw. High‑1:26s and low‑1:27s built a buffer while he posted the day’s fastest tour - 1:26.553 - and never let the rhythm slip. Behind, FMG began a ruthless rise: a clean pass on Stevenson on Lap 4, a minor wall rub on Lap 9 that didn’t even dent the average, and then the big moves - outbraking drafts into the first chicane that elevated him to the sharp end by Lap 14.
Further back, Porcu’s recovery kept being interrupted. He fought pitman twice on Lap 6, tangled again with Flashor on Lap 15, then skimmed the fence on Laps 17 and 19. The raw pace was there; the clean stint never arrived.
The podium takes shape (Lap 21–36)
meisterJaeger delivered the drive nobody noticed until it mattered: three feather‑touches with the wall (Laps 13, 25, 36), no time lost, and relentless mid‑1:27s that anchored P3. Elia Porcu shadowed him, tidy and unspectacular, banking P4 despite a late brush on Lap 32.
The attrition tally grew: Bucci stopped on Lap 18, Karjunen on Lap 19, and Saìu didn’t see the hour either. Monza had its sacrifices.
Final act (Lap 37–42)
The last five laps were pure GPL: Simone Porcu and Flashor waged a three‑lap duel (Laps 38–40) for pride and points, both skimming the margins before Porcu’s final scrape on Lap 42 sealed his fate outside the top seven. Up front there was only clarity—Masse easing the Honda home, FMG locked into second on merit, meisterJaeger unflappable in third.
Flag & figures
Winner: Florian Masse - 61:10.576 (fastest lap *1:26.553)
2nd: FMG - +17.351 (61:27.927)
3rd: meisterJaeger - +19.679 (61:30.255)
4th: Elia Porcu - +22.157 (61:32.733)
5th: Nat Stevenson - +34.754 (61:45.330)
Behind them: gilvil77 led home Alex Senna, with Simone Porcu only eighth after that combative opening. Flashor and Rolf Biber completed the top ten. DNFs: Bucci (Lap 18), Saìu (Lap 18), Eetu Karjunen (Lap 19), Mika Hakala (Lap 27).
What it means for the new championship
Monza hands the early initiative to Masse (40 pts) with FMG on 37 and meisterJaeger on 34. Elia Porcu opens on 31, Stevenson on 30; the headline, though, is the polesitter - Simone Porcu - starting from just 27 after a bruising Sunday. The calendar will give him chances to answer back, but Round 1 made the tone clear: clean air wins races, and this field is deep enough to punish even the smallest hesitation.
Verdict: A sharp, old‑school season opener-slipstream chess at the front, street‑fight elbows in the pack. If Monza is the form guide, GPL 7 is going to be a belter.
