Title Fight Comes to a Head: Previewing Monza

Lobs eSports driver Dylan Rudd continues to lead the way, still with his nose in front at the midway point of the season, however it is the charge from teammates Jarrad Filsell and James Scott where Dylan’s challenge is likely to come from. Only four points separates the two contenders, whilst returning 9ine 5ive star, Ric Kuznetsov has maintained a steady approach, always featuring towards the front and collecting points.

Trans Tasman Racing has had a tumultuous first half of the season, scoring a win at Phillip Island for Round 2, and showing race-winning pace at Watkins Glen and Road America, but also having lacklustre and inconsistent results scattered amongst the team as a whole. So whilst defending champion Madison Down still sits within striking distance of the championship lead, TTR will be wanting to show they are back to their best at Monza before we begin endurance season.

The last time we visited Monza in Italy, it was round four of the inaugural series in 2022, and it was Jarrad Filsell who dominated proceedings. At the time, Jarrad who was driving for SSR led a team 1-2 and Synergy was very strong, featuring heavily in the top 15. Back in 2022, it was also the start of the “low wing” era of the current supercar.

Prior to this round back in 2022, most teams were stuck with the traditional mindset amongst the paddock that full wing had too much of an edge at every track, but it was this round over two years ago that kicked off the development path for the entire field to experiment with low downforce setups.

It will be incredibly interesting to see which team has evolved their “low downforce car” into the class of the field this time around. Will SSR still have the edge? Will TTR get back to their lofty standards and show the way? Have 9ine 5ive or ERT nailed their preparation this time around? Or will Lobs eSport maintain their advantage on the field?

48 laps is a long way at Monza, with the dependency on draft and pack racing to play a large part in the outcome, many strategies will converge at the end of a compulsory two stop race to reveal who has played their cards right.

What to look for:

• Look for smart operators sitting at the back of a large group of cars saving a lot of fuel to vault them up the field at the final pit stop
• Look for teammates trying to run “line a stern” to prevent other drivers racing them and breaking up the draft train
• Look for gaps in the train early in the race and if that pack can catch back up to the train in front
• Look for the over-cut strategy to work well, easy passing opportunities and the ability to save fuel and tyres will mean drivers want to be on better tyres at the end of the race
• Look for the corner cut penalties at three critical areas around the track - Look for carnage at turn 1

Formguide:

It’s hard to look past Lobs eSports at the moment, but our interest will be to see if Blake Worboys can continue his incredible start to the season, driving the single WK&P Mustang, Blake currently sits 7th on the points, showing up much larger and more fancied teams and drivers.

Brady Meyers has been quiet lately, but we are expecting Meyers and Burton to lead a TTR resurgence. TTR don’t stay quiet for long!

Griffin Gardiner scored pole position in his first outing for Lobs eSports, showing up his bigger name teammates, he will be eager to finish what he started at Road America.

Ethan Grigg-Gault is knocking on the door of his first victory, if he can get his pitstops right, he should be in the mix, whilst Marcello Rivera is pushing forward for ERT.