Costantini closes Grand Prix Turn Racing season with Monza win; Lemanek celebrates title

Two weeks ago, Apex Racing Team’s Michele Costantini scored his first win of the 2023 Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series season in convincing fashion in Austria. At the same time, his chances for a title were dashed as he was simultaneously eliminated from championship contention.

One week ago, Drago Racing’s Przemyslaw Lemanek scored enough points to wrap up the championship at Pocono. Even if he scored no points in the finale on Thursday at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, there would be no way that his closest opponent, BS+Competition’s Jarl Teien, could outscore him.

While the championship was wrapped and the $10,000 top prize decided, the fight for second was on, as were many of the spots still to be decided within the top 10. Costantini went on to take the final race win of the season, his second of the year and third of his career, enough to vault him up to fifth in the final standings.

The top level series for the Dallara iR-01 had drama throughout the year, with no clear-cut champion in view until the fourth race of the season, when Lemanek scored his first win at Silverstone. From then on, he never looked back, steadily increasing his lead up until last week’s Pocono penultimate event. The celebration began as he scored the pole position at Monza, citing plans for a two-pit-stop strategy just before the race went green.

When the lights went out, Lemanek was gone, grabbing the lead by over six seconds with his soft compound tires before pitting for the first time on Lap 8. There were three other soft tire starters, including SDK Gaming’s Gaël Valero, Super’s Xavi Ros and Stormforce Gaming’s Michael Janney. Costantini, on mediums, was able to keep up with that trio, but not Lemanek as far ahead as he had gotten.

By the time Costantini pitted on Lap 18 of the 28-lap contest, Lemanek cycled back to a 15-second lead, but on much older medium tires in comparison. Lemanek had about a 15-second lead. That gap shrunk almost instantly, closing to under 10 seconds the next lap by. One lap later, Lemanek came in for his second stop. He returned to the track in 11th, well behind Costantini but with the best tires. Unfortunately, the strategy was short lived, as Lemanek backed it into a barrier exiting Ascari in an attempt to get around SDK Gaming’s Manel Cubo Torres for 10th.

Costantini went on for the win, but the battle for second on the track and in the points was still far from over. Teien was lurking just close enough behind Arnage Competition’s David Toth to prevent him leapfrogging back into the runner-up spot. The gap entering the race was five points, which meant that no matter what, if Teien finished directly behind Toth, Teien would secure second in the points.

Apex Racing Team’s Ben Fuller made his way all the way up to second from shotgun on the grid, all the way back in 25th place. On the final lap, Fuller tried to hold on to give ART a 1-2 finish, but Toth was fighting for an extra $2,000 if he could make the move cleanly. Entering the Parabolica coming to the checkers, Toth somehow made it work, grabbing the second spot as Teien could only sit and watch with no chance to do anything, a single point deciding the battle for second best in 2023.

Costantini jumped up to fifth overall with the win, picking up an extra chunk of cash from the $25,000 purse. He split VRS drivers Marcos Núñez and Edoardo Leo, who came into the finale with a shot at second as well, but instead settling for fourth and sixth, respectively.

Lemanek, who towed following his incident in the closing stages, was able to get back on track and celebrate the championship following the race. The off-kilter strategy may not have worked out, but in the grand scheme of things, he could afford it having done the work in the first nine races.

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series Round 10 results at Autodromo Nazionale Monza were as follows:

Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series points through Round 10 are as follows:

1. Przemyslaw Marek Lemanek, 135
2. David Toth, 121
3. Jarl Teien, 120
4. Marcos Núñez, 104
5. Michele Costantini, 98
6. Edoardo Leo, 96
7. Manel Cubo Torres, 84
8. Matt Emery, 76
9. Pablo Espes, 73
10. Gaël Valero, 71

For more information on the Grand Prix Turn Racing iRacing Series, visit www.iracing.com/irgp. For more information on Turn Racing, visit www.turnracing.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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