GT4 Italy: Jorden Dolischka secures first top five finish in Imola
- RACERS
- 4 minutes ago
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Jorden Dolischka, Aiva Anagnostiadis and Kornelia Olkucka all showed strong pace and secured encouraging results during the penultimate round of the GT4 Italy season at Imola, with Dolischka claiming her best result of the campaign to date with a fifth place in Race 1.
Aiva Anagnostiadis, Jorden Dolischka and Kornelia Olkucka all showed strong pace and secured encouraging results during the penultimate round of the GT4 Italy season at Imola, with Dolischka claiming her best result of the campaign to date with a fifth place in Race 1.
The Imola weekend, held under predominantly sunny and warm conditions, marked the fourth round of the championship and saw the three female drivers once again fighting at the sharp end of a competitive GT4 field, with only one round remaining on the calendar.
Eighteen-year-old Australian rookie Anagnostiadis continued her first GT racing campaign with Promodrive alongside Andrea Palazzo, having made the transition from single-seaters following her F1 Academy stint. After scoring her maiden GT4 podium at Vallelunga and returning to the podium at Mugello, Anagnostiadis arrived at Imola looking to maintain her progression with the BMW M4 GT4.
Austrian newcomer Dolischka, meanwhile, continued her quick adaptation in her first season with Centro Porsche Ticino, sharing the #76 Porsche 718 Cayman with Noah Massa and having already collected three top-ten finishes from the opening two rounds, including a personal-best seventh place at Vallelunga.
Polish driver Olkucka was continuing her own transition from Formula 4 while combining GT4 Italy with her GTC Endurance programme, racing solo in Lema Racing's #19 Mercedes-AMG GT4 to maximise her available seat time after achieving a career-best sixth place at Vallelunga.
The Porsches immediately looked competitive in practice, with Dolischka and Massa opening with a 1:53.281 lap in FP1, placing the #76 Porsche fourth overall, while Palazzo and Anagnostiadis were eighth fastest and Olkucka ended FP1 in 14th.
Dolischka remained among the front-running cars in FP2, improving to a 1:53.058 to again place the Porsche inside the top six, while Anagnostiadis and Palazzo were ninth fastest. Olkucka also made a significant step forward, improving her pace sufficiently to move into 11th.
Anagnostiadis then produced a particularly strong qualifying performance in the opening session, setting a 1:52.942 to secure seventh place on the Race 1 grid, while Dolischka was also behind the wheel of the #76 Porsche and posted a 1:53.000 to qualify ninth. Olkucka qualified 13th with a 1:53.991, although the Lema Racing driver would make another significant improvement in the second session, setting a 1:52.700 to move herself up to 12th on the Race 2 grid. Noah Massa subsequently put the #76 Porsche sixth overall with a 1:52.118, while Andrea Palazzo qualified the #27 BMW ninth.
Dolischka made an excellent launch from ninth on the grid in the opening race, immediately moving up to seventh, while Anagnostiadis slipped back to 11th and Olkucka gained one position to run 12th as the field negotiated the opening corners. The midfield remained tightly packed during the early stages, but the first Safety Car intervention soon neutralised the race after separate incidents involving the #75 Porsche of Danilo Arfini and the Aston Martin driven by Bastos, leaving Dolischka seventh, Anagnostiadis 10th and Olkucka 11th under caution.
Anagnostiadis responded strongly at the restart, moving into ninth with a pass on Maurizio Ceresoli, while Olkucka was also involved in the increasingly close midfield fight. Dolischka, meanwhile, remained firmly in seventh and showed strong pace as she defended from Pavan, maintaining her position despite sustained pressure. Anagnostiadis stayed within striking distance of the #8 Mercedes of Ceresoli, while Olkucka followed a couple of seconds further back and maintained a comfortable margin over Wagner behind.
As the first round of pit stops approached, the positions began to change rapidly, with Dolischka staying out as the pit window opened and consequently climbing to fourth overall, while Anagnostiadis also moved forward to fifth. Dolischka's strong first stint eventually saw her running as high as second overall before she made her mandatory stop on lap 13 with 23 minutes remaining, handing the Porsche over to Noah Massa. Anagnostiadis also stopped on lap 13 from fourth, with Palazzo taking over the BMW, while Olkucka pitted and remained behind the wheel of the Mercedes-AMG, rejoining in 11th.
Once the pit cycle had settled, Massa emerged in eighth and Palazzo in ninth, while Olkucka moved up to 10th. A further Safety Car period then compressed the field once again, setting up a frantic final phase with 14 minutes remaining at the restart.
Olkucka immediately demonstrated greta racecraft, passing Palazzo to move into ninth, while Massa also made significant progress in the Porsche. The #76 car moved to sixth after Ian Rocca took his Lotus deep into the Rivazza complex, as Olkucka therefore advanced to eighth. Palazzo climbed to ninth after Trentin was forced to pit with damage.
Massa was particularly impressive in the closing stages, first making a decisive pass on Esposito for sixth before overtaking Costernaro's Porsche to claim fifth, while Olkucka's charge was interrupted by an issue that dropped her back to 11th. Palazzo spent the final laps pressuring the other BMW M4 GT4 of Luca Esposito, but was unable to find a way past and eventually took the chequered flag eighth.
Massa's fifth place represented the best result of the season for the #76 Porsche and, consequently, Dolischka's first top-five finish in GT4 Italy, highlighting her continued progress in her rookie GT campaign following a really solid stint for the Austrian. Anagnostiadis and Palazzo completed the race in eighth, while Olkucka finished 11th after her late-race setback.
The second race took place on Sunday morning under sunny and warm conditions, with Massa starting the #76 Porsche from sixth, Palazzo lining up ninth in the #27 BMW and Olkucka starting 11th in the Lema Racing Mercedes-AMG.
Palazzo made a particularly strong opening lap to move into eighth, while Massa held sixth and Olkucka remained 11th after being boxed in during the first corners, although she kept the car out of trouble and maintained contact with the midfield group.
Massa soon moved up to fifth and settled into a 1:53.1 rhythm, although he was unable to match the pace of Maman ahead and instead concentrated on building a gap over Tocci and Lodi behind. Tocci, however, found a better exit from Rivazza on lap four and launched an attack on the Porsche, with Massa defending successfully to retain fifth. Palazzo was also beginning to close on Lodi as he joined the group battling for the positions immediately ahead.
Olkucka remained closely attached to the group in 11th, patiently waiting for an opportunity to open up, and that chance arrived on lap nine when she passed Ian Rocca to move into 10th. Meanwhile, Massa continued to come under pressure from the fast #11 Mercedes of Lorenzo Tocci, defending strongly for several laps before Tocci eventually completed the move for fifth after their increasingly intense duel.
The pit window was now approaching and Olkucka made her mandatory stop from 10th on lap 12, with Massa also coming in from sixth and handing the Porsche over to Dolischka. Palazzo extended his first stint in the BMW, using the pit cycle to climb as high as fourth overall before stopping on lap 14 and handing the car to Anagnostiadis.
Once the stops had cycled through, Dolischka rejoined in ninth, while Anagnostiadis emerged in eighth and Olkucka in 10th. Dolischka's recovery was then temporarily interrupted on lap 15 when she spun at the Villeneuve Chicane, dropping to 12th, but she immediately set about recovering the lost ground. Anagnostiadis moved into seventh, while Olkucka also gained positions to run ninth.
Anagnostiadis was now closing rapidly on Tiago Bastos ahead, initially facing a four-second gap but lapping more than two seconds faster and steadily reducing the deficit. She launched her attack at Tamburello on lap 19, as Bastos ran deep and eventually spun into the gravel, allowing Anagnostiadis to take the position and simultaneously promoting Olkucka to seventh and Dolischka to ninth.
The final laps saw the three drivers all running competitively. Olkucka demonstrated particularly good pace and began closing on Anagnostiadis ahead, although the gap remained too large to allow her to challenge for sixth. Dolischka, meanwhile, was significantly quicker than the cars ahead of her and passed both Polari and Ceresoli to recover to 10th before being promoted to ninth.
The race leader Arfini then spun on the final lap while under pressure, rejoining in fifth, although Anagnostiadis was not close enough to capitalise further and took the chequered flag in sixth. Olkucka crossed the line seventh, securing her second-best result of the season and another strong step forward in her GT4 adaptation, while Dolischka completed an excellent recovery drive in ninth after her earlier spin.
With four of the five rounds now completed, Anagnostiadis sits eighth in the GT4 Italy championship standings on 39 points, while Dolischka is 13th with 30 points and Olkucka 18th on 15 points. The 2026 season will conclude with the final round at Monza from October 9-11, where all three drivers will have one final opportunity to build on their progress during their respective debut GT4 campaigns.
