Maia Meneghin makes highly promising debut in GT Cup Europe at Monza
Maia Meneghin made a highly promising international GT racing debut at Monza, displaying a convincing progression across her first GT Cup Europe appearance aboard the #101 Ferrari 488 Challenge.
Maia Meneghin made a highly promising international GT racing debut at Monza, displaying a convincing progression across her first GT Cup Europe appearance aboard the #101 Ferrari 488 Challenge shared with Alessandro Marchetti.
The 21-year-old Italian, who has previously gained experience in Mitjet Italia and tested the Ferrari 488 Challenge before making her national GT racing debut earlier this year in the Cup Light championship at Mugello, quickly adapted to the higher level of competition, ending the weekend sixth in the AM class in Race 1 and demonstrating increasingly competitive pace throughout both of her stints.
Although the Ferrari was forced to retire from Race 2 with just two laps remaining, the result did little to diminish what was an impressive first international weekend for Meneghin, whose lap times improved dramatically as she gained experience at the Tempe of Speed.
Meneghin and Marchetti began the weekend with a solid opening free practice, setting the 18th-fastest time overall and seventh in the AM class with a 1:51.035. The #101 Ferrari made a significant step forward in FP2, with a 1:50.360 moving the crew to 15th overall and sixth in class, while the same sixth-place position in the classification was maintained during the Bronze-FP3 session. Meneghin herself was also making significant progress in each outing.
With Alessandro Marchetti taking over driving duties for the opening qualifying session on Saturday morning, the #101 Ferrari immediately emerged as a solid AM contender. Marchetti moved into second place in class during the opening stages with a lap in the 1:49.8 range before improving to a 1:48.7, which placed him third in AM.
The Italian continued to find time as the session progressed and ultimately secured an excellent third-place starting position in the AM class, with a 1:48.711 placing the Ferrari 11th overall.
Marchetti took the start for Race 1 from ninth overall and third in the AM class and made a clean getaway through the opening chicane. The opening lap, however, was immediately complicated by contacts involving several cars at the front, with championship contender Delli Guanti also caught up in the incidents. Marchetti managed to escape the chaos without damage, moving through in eighth overall and second in the AM class as the Safety Car was deployed.
Racing resumed at the end of the second lap, with Marchetti producing another strong restart and retaining his position while soon coming under pressure from De Mello behind. The #101 Ferrari defended well and remained in the fight for the AM class podium, while Marchetti gradually began closing on the two cars ahead, which were battling for position with Martinelli and Weijs, the latter running as the AM class leader.
As the battle intensified, Marchetti attempted to work his way through the group but as the leading duo battled side-by-side into the first chicane, the Ferrari was slightly too deep into the corner, forcing Marchetti to take evasive action and put a wheel onto the grass. Marchetti impressively saved the car from a potential accident but sent the Ferrari into a spin, dropping it down the order to 19th overall and seventh in the AM class by lap five.
Despite the setback, Marchetti immediately resumed his pace. He was circulating in the 1:52.2 range and was more than a second per lap quicker than Zerbi ahead, rapidly closing the gap before eventually clearing both Zerbi and Romani, two Pro-Am entries. By lap nine, the #101 Ferrari had recovered to 16th overall and sixth in the AM class when Leandro Martins, the AM championship leader, hit the barriers at Ascari, bringing out another Safety Car.
With the pit window approaching and around 30 minutes remaining, the neutralisation gave the team an opportunity to catch back the pack. The Safety Car returned to the pits with approximately 25 minutes left, and Marchetti quickly found himself in the slipstream of Luiz Souza while fighting for fifth place in class.
Once the driver-change window opened, the #101 Ferrari remained on track while several of its rivals stopped, allowing Marchetti to cycle to third in the AM class and ninth overall. He extended the stint further and, by lap 14, had worked his way into the AM class lead before finally bringing the Ferrari into the pits to hand over to Meneghin for her first ever GT Cup Europe race stint.
Meneghin rejoined in 17th overall and sixth in the AM class, immediately settling into a strong rhythm despite having only just begun her GT racing career. Her first laps were already competitive, with a 1:51.7 followed by a 1:51.2, and she continued to improve while maintaining a consistent pace. She soon gained an overall position to move into 16th.
There was one brief setback on lap 20 when Meneghin encountered the #3 Porsche of Calcagno at the second chicane. Having to avoid the Porsche, she took evasive action and spun, but fortunately there was no contact or damage. The incident cost her one overall position, although she retained sixth place in the AM class and was able to continue in clear air, allowing her to concentrate on building her own pace and rhythm.
The response was again impressive; Meneghin began producing laps in the 1:50 range, setting a 1:50.013 that became the Ferrari's best lap of the race before immediately following it with another 1:50.1. With every lap, she appeared increasingly comfortable in the car, and on the final lap she produced a remarkable 1:49.512, dramatically lowering her previous best and demonstrating that she was already approaching the pace of much more experienced competitors.
Meneghin and Marchetti ultimately finished 17th overall and sixth in the AM class, but the final result only told part of the story. Meneghin had steadily improved throughout her stint, culminating in a lap time more than two seconds faster than her previous best before the race.
Sunday morning represented another important moment as Meneghin contested her first qualifying session in GT Cup Europe. With sunny conditions over Monza, the Italian immediately settled into the session and set a 1:50.9 to move into fourth place in the AM class midway through the session. Meneghin continued to find time, lowering her benchmark to 1:50.318 before breaking through the 1:50 barrier with a 1:49.975. She then improved again to a 1:49.734, continuing to extract more performance from the Ferrari.
Although she was unable to combine all of her best sector times into one ideal lap, Meneghin nevertheless secured sixth place in the AM class and 15th overall, giving her another good starting position for her first ever GT Cup Europe race start.
Meneghin took the wheel for the opening stint of Race 2, starting from 15th overall and sixth in the AM class, and approached the opening laps with a measured strategy. Chaos erupted ahead almost immediately, with several cars involved in contact at the first chicane, including the Lamborghini starting from the front row, but Meneghin successfully avoided the incidents and emerged unscathed.
She also negotiated the following lap safely despite several three- and four-wide battles developing around her, keeping the yellow Ferrari safely in the pack and gradually building her pace. Her lap times progressed from 1:51.6 to 1:51.4 and then 1:51.3, before she broke into the 1:50s, all while maintaining sixth place in the AM class.
After a consistent and increasingly confident opening stint, Meneghin brought the Ferrari into the pits on lap 13 and handed over to Marchetti. The car rejoined in 14th overall and sixth in class, with Marchetti immediately maintaining a pace in the 1:50.4 range while coming under pressure from Luiz Souza, who was just half a second behind.
The #101 Ferrari gained an overall position when Martinelli was forced to pit with an issue, while Marchetti established some breathing room over Souza and continued to push, setting a 1:50.198. He subsequently found another step in performance with a 1:49.9 lap and began closing rapidly on the #87 Porsche of Nelson Marcondes.
The gap, which had initially stood at around 12 seconds, quickly fell to nine seconds as Marchetti continued to gain ground, putting the Ferrari in a position for a stronger finish. Unfortunately, however, the charge came to an end with only two laps remaining when the #101 Ferrari came to a stop after running out of fuel.
Fuel consumption has been a known issue for the Ferrari 488 Challenge cars at Monza over races of this length. Nevertheless, the late retirement could not erase the progress made throughout the weekend by the duo.
For Meneghin, the Monza weekend in fact represented a highly promising first international GT racing experience. From her opening practice to her race stints, the young Italian consistently lowered her lap times and her consistent race pace further demonstrated highly encouraging potential, providing an indication of how quickly she adapted to this level of competition.
