What a wild afternoon at Monza. As FormulaUno.it reports, Leonardo Moncini and Rodrigo Testa took a stunning win at the 500 km of Monza behind the wheel of the Scuderia Villorba Corse Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 #63, claiming the penultimate round of the 2026 International GT Open season in a race that was completely chaotic from the start.
The podium fight went right down to the wire. Behind the winning Italian machine, the Greystone GT McLaren #33 of Zac Meakin and Dean Macdonald crossed the line in second place, while the ZRS Motorsport Porsche #911 shared by Alex Fontana and Pietro Armanni grabbed the final step of the podium. Meanwhile, the Elite Motorsport Ferrari #17 of Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon came home fourth, a result that crucially preserves their championship lead heading into the final weekend.
From the very beginning, the track was littered with drama and yellow flags. Christian Mansell initially held the lead at the start in the Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 #71, ahead of the McLaren #33, the Lamborghini #63, and the Porsche #911. The race saw its first Safety Car on lap 10 following a heavy incident at the first chicane involving the AF Corse Ferrari #96 of Yaroslav Veselaho, the Fach Auto Tech Porsche #11 of Alexander Schwarzer, and the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini #70 of Nicolas Stati. A second neutralisation soon followed after a spin from the AF Corse Ferrari #107 driven by Rey Acosta at the same chicane.
The middle stint of the race was pure warfare. After the pit stops, Maximilian Götz wrestled the lead back for Mercedes with a stunning outside move at Curva Biassono on the McLaren #33. Yet another Safety Car emerged on lap 34 after the Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing Intl. Ferrari #25 driven by Xolile Letlaka smashed into the barriers at Lesmo 1. At the restart, the Lamborghini #63 began to truly come alive in the hands of Moncini, who carved through traffic and capitalized on the pit stop handicap shuffles.
The turning point arrived during the final sequence of stops. Rodrigo Testa managed to muscle past Maximilian Götz to put the Lamborghini #63 into the lead, thanks in no small part to a blistering pace set by Moncini just before hand-over. But disaster loomed for the #63 machine, which was hit with two five-second penalties—one for passing beyond track limits and another for a pit lane time infringement during the second mandatory stop. Testa immediately responded by hammering out a sequence of fast laps, stretching his margin over the Mercedes from two to seven seconds to try and cover the penalties.
Then came the ultimate twist. Maximilian Götz suffered a sudden rear-left wheel failure, pitching the Mercedes #71 hard into the barriers at the exit of Ascari while running a comfortable second. That heartbreak instantly ended the German driver and Mansell's title hopes, handing Testa a clear run to the checkered flag and securing the Scuderia Villorba Corse squad their second win in three races and their first-ever GT Open Endurance victory.
Behind them, the fourth-place finish for the Elite Motorsport Ferrari #17 of Tom Lebbon and Tom Emson leaves the British crew holding a 21-point advantage over Meakin and 26 points over Fontana and Armanni with only Barcelona left in mid-October. Further down the order, class wins went to the Blackthorn Aston Martin #97 of Charles Bateman and Henrique Chaves dominating PRO Am, and the Fach Auto Tech Porsche #992 GT3-R EVO #12 of Joel Monegro Reyes and Constantin Dressler taking top honours in Am.
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