Romain Monti will join Madpanda Motorsport for next weekend’s GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS endurance race at the Nürbrugring, where the French racer will help the new team build on its recent success at Misano earlier this month.
Monti will race the No. 90 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo alongside team principal Ezequiel Companc and full-season Endurance driver Patrick Assenheimer. Jorge Cabezas raced in the Endurance Cup opener at Imola but is unable to complete the season due to sponsorship reasons.
Monti (29, from France) has several years of experience racing in a number of GT3 and GT4 championships, including GT World Challenge Europe. He’s also well aware of what it takes to win in the highly competitive Silver Cup class, having won the Total 24 Hours of Spa in 2018.
Madpanda Motorsport heads into the six-hour race at the Nürburgring with a positive outlook, thanks to its win last time out in the Sprint Cup round at Misano, and its championship-leading position. The team leads the Silver Cup standings, while Ezequiel heads the same standings for drivers, after a string of good results in Misano and a strong debut Endurance performance at Imola.
Nürburgring will provide vital preparation for the season’s highlight, the Total 24 Hours of Spa, which is the next Endurance race after the German round. Madpanda Motorsport’s driver crew for that race, on 22-25 October, is not yet finalised but Ezequiel and Patrick will form the basis of the lineup.
Ezequiel Companc, team principal and driver: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Romain to the team for Nürburgring. Crucially, he’s got a proven record in GT racing and the fact he’s won the Total 24 Hours of Spa in the Silver Cup shows that he’ll be a valuable addition to our team. Patrick and I are ready for the challenge of a six-hour race and to keep up our strong results. After our Sprint win in Misano, we’re leading the combined Silver Cup standings so it would be great to keep this up after Nürburgring. We’ll use the lessons we all learned at Imola to get a result to be proud of in this second Endurance race.”
Romain Monti, driver: “I’m delighted to start this collaboration with Madpanda Motorsport. The team is new but they have already shown their ambition and race-winning performance. With Patrick and Ezequiel, we have the right lineup to fight for the win in the Silver Cup. And I must say it feels good to finally be back on track after the strange last few months. I spent a lot of time on the sim, often fighting against Ezequiel! I can’t thank the team enough for this great opportunity.”
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