Jernej Simoncic has provisionally taken the GPVWC Superleague race win at Monza after some controversial overtaking moves at the Rettifilo chicane.
After changing from dry to intermediate tyres in the mixed-weather Italian Grand Prix, Simoncic dropped to third and behind both Edonis Engineering drivers having pitted later than both of them.
Simoncic attempted to overtake Liam de Waal in the first Edonis car on the exit of the Roggia chicane, but de Waal defended the place and forced Simoncic to dip his front left tyre onto the grass.
The loss of grip sent Simoncic straight on at the first Lesmo and down to sixth position.
Passing on both Alex Cooper for fifth and Rait Kilk for third involved Simoncic going deep into the first corner, blocking Cooper on the exit of the chicane and cutting the chicane entirely when overtaking Kilk.
With seven laps to go Simoncic caught back up to de Waal and dived down the inside of the entry to Parabolica to take second place.
The Burst Esport driver was 10 seconds behind Adam Maguire with seven laps of the race to go, but Maguire’s early change onto the intermediate tyres came back to haunt him as he was lapping up to two seconds slower than Simoncic.
On the final lap Simoncic made a clean move under braking for the first chicane to take first place and his second win of the season.
Edonis team-mates Maguire and de Waal completed the podium despite making contact early in the race.
Maguire started in second but took the race lead from Simoncic on the second lap, before DRS had been activated.
De Waal found it tricker to overtake Simoncic and in attempting to get past at the Rettifilo chicane he braked too late and went into the back of Maguire’s car, spinning the Irishman around.
Maguire dropped to 12th, but the inspired decision to pit for the intermediates at the end of lap 12, four laps before his team-mate de Waal and five before Simoncic, put Maguire back in the race lead with a margin of over six seconds.
De Waal’s one lap earlier pitstop compared to Simoncic gave him the better position on circuit, making it an Edonis 1-2 that stuck for the majority of the race.
Many other podium hopefuls crashed out of contention, including Giuseppe Ragusa who went off line on the exit of the Roggia chicane and lost the rear, ending up in the barrier.
Cooper also succumbed to the conditions, outbraking himself for the Rettifilo chicane and ending up on the grass, then losing traction when rejoining the circuit and going straight on into the barrier.
Championship leader Jannick Bock had a comparatively quiet race as he ended up in sixth, two places higher up than he started.
Evolution Motorsports’ Bock still retains the championship lead, albeit with his lead over Maguire cut from 30 points to 20.
The double podium for Edonis Engineering means it’s taken the lead of the constructors’ championship away from Evolution, which only had one of its drivers finish as Belgian Grand Prix winner Dennis Jordan crashed out.
The next round of the Superleague championship will take place at the Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore on August 27.
