Manuela Gostner's pace goes unrewarded in Ferrari Challenge season opener in Monza
- RACERS
- Mar 31
- 5 min read
Manuela Gostner showed strong pace in the 2025 Ferrari Challenge Shell Cup season opener at Monza, securing a third place in qualifying and setting the some of the fastest laps in the second race on Sunday, but misfortune in both races left her with an unlucky P11 as her best finish of the weekend.
Manuela Gostner returned to the Ferrari Challenge Europe Shell Cup for the 2025 season opener, having previously contended for race wins and the title in past seasons. The experienced Italian racer aimed to continue battling at the front in Monza but faced an unlucky weekend, with P11 as her best result despite being one of the fastest on track on Sunday.
A driver with prior experience in ELMS and FIA WEC, Manuela Gostner has primarily raced in Ferrari Challenge in recent years, consistently securing pole positions and race wins in the Shell Cup. In 2024, she fought for the vice-champion title until the final round of the season, eventually finishing fourth in the standings.
Alongside her commitments in the family-run MP Racing team—competing in the 24H Series with her father Thomas and her siblings David and Corinna—Manuela returned to the track just one week after the 12 Hours of Mugello for the curtain-raiser of the 2025 Ferrari Challenge Europe championship at the Temple of Speed in Monza.
After positive testing, Manuela finished fourth fastest in the official practice session, in one of the strongest Shell Cup fields to date. However, on Saturday, changing weather conditions and much colder temperatures made for a more difficult start to the weekend.
In Q1, Manuela’s first timed lap placed her in the top ten, and she later improved to a 1:46.301, moving up into P9. In the final minutes, she found more pace, dipping below the 1:46s with a 1:45.797 but had to settle for P10 on the grid for Race 1. Fabrizio Fontana claimed pole position, ahead of Rey Acosta.
"Cold track, tricky conditions in qualifying, and I couldn’t get the tyres up to temperature ending up in P10", Manuela commented. "To make things worse I got a 3-position penalty for blocking another car during the qualifying - totally unintentional, but it happened - so I started Race 1 from P13."
For the afternoon race, conditions improved with a dry track and blue skies. Manuela lined up in P13 after serving her grid penalty. At lights out, the field got through Turn 1 unscathed, with Manuela gaining two positions and moving into P11. She then began hunting down Fons Scheltema, setting the fastest second sector while also fending off Michael Martin's #109 car behind her.
Manuela used her experience to maintain position and set the fastest lap of the race to that point on lap 5 with a 1:46.639. She resumed her attack on Scheltema, but despite her efforts, she was unable to overtake. Nevertheless, the two pulled a four-second gap from Martin behind them.
As the race progressed, they caught Kinch and Sandmann, forming a four-car battle for a top-ten finish with five minutes to go. Manuela stayed close, waiting for opportunities from mistakes ahead, but few arose. She ultimately crossed the checkered flag in P11.
"At the start of the race I managed to gain 2 positions, but that was all", Gostner said. "This year’s Ferrari Challenge is next-level with most of drivers within just three tenths! That means that qualifying is everything", she continued. "The goal for today [Sunday] is to make a strong qualifying to start further up the grid, because fighting back is brutal."
On Sunday morning, Monza welcomed a sunny day for the final sessions of the season opener. Manuela was strong from the start of Q2, clocking a 1:47.1 on her first timed lap, which placed her fourth fastest. She pitted midway through the session for a fresh set of tyres.
Her next push lap brought a significant improvement with a 1:45.918, moving her up into fourth. With seven minutes to go, she found even more time and secured P3 with a strong 1:45.099 lap—almost matching her fastest lap of the entire weekend. She would start Race 2 from the second row, behind Fabrizio Fontana and James Weiland.
"This morning qualifying was on fire", Manuela said. "The car felt really good, and I put together a strong lap ending the quali session in P3. With such a competitive Coppa Shell drivers, I was really proud of my result."
In the afternoon, warm conditions set the stage for the final race of the weekend. Manuela had a great start but found herself squeezed between two cars. Forced to back off, she dropped to P8 and soon lost further positions when her car’s engine went into safe mode. She had to pit at the end of lap 1 to reset the system.
After the pit stop, she could rejoin the race but was nearly a lap down, needing a safety car to catch up with the pack. Despite this, she matched the race leaders’ pace, clocking a 1:46.361—making her the third-fastest car on track. She extended her gap over the lapped cars and, on lap 6, set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:46.095.
Meanwhile, up front, Weiland received a drive-through penalty for an incorrect starting position, promoting Eric Cheung to the lead. Fontana attempted an overtake at Parabolica but collided with Cheung, though the race remained green. Fontana was later handed a penalty, giving the lead to Christian Kinch, who was six seconds behind.
With seven minutes to go, a huge crash at Parabolica saw Eric Cheung go airborne over Sandmann’s car and hit the barriers at high speed, bringing out the red flag. The race was not resumed, and Manuela was classified P13—a disappointing end to what could have been a strong race.
"The start of the race was a total chaos", she summarized. "Everyone around me jump-started and got penalties. Meanwhile my car decided to have a little Italian drama moment, with my car engine going into protection mode before T1. I had to reset mid-race and of course some positions were lost. After that I was one of the fastest on track, even setting the fastest lap for a while."
"The pace was there, the quali was there - just a bit of bad luck at the start which ended for me with a P13 placement at the checkered flag. A bit of frustration, but we take the positives."
Manuela’s front-running pace ultimately went unrewarded, but her strong qualifying performance and race pace—especially on Sunday—show that she can again fight at the front. She now looks ahead to the next round at Misano, Italy, in two weeks.
