EDGE driver Dean MacDonald charged to a maiden International GT Open victory with a magnificent performance at the three-hour ‘Monza 500’ on Sunday.
Drivers James Kell and Dean MacDonald commanded a race that began on a wet track aboard their McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.
The Silverstone-based Greystone GT team were well-versed in both wet and dry conditions at Monza; the legendary Italian ‘Temple of Speed’ having dished out both during practice and qualifying on Friday and Saturday.
Starting eighth overall and sixth in the Pro category on a wet, but drying, track, James opted to take wet-weather tyres while the majority of the 30-car field used dry-weather slicks in the hope of avoiding an extra tyre change if the track dried out.
This decision proved key to the victory as James stormed up to fourth place by the first corner and then used his superior traction to pull alongside and pass three more cars around the Curva Grande to take the lead.
On tyres straight into their performance window, Morpeth racer James ended the opening lap with a staggering 10-second lead and extended his advantage to 36 seconds within the first 25 minutes.
It was at this point that the drying track conditions began to play to the advantage of the slick-shod runners; James brilliantly managing his rapidly-degrading rubber to reach the first mandatory pitstop window with a 10s advantage.
Taking over at this stage was McLaren factory driver Dean, who maintained the lead well, but saw his efforts undone when an incident triggered the safety car during his opening stint and wiped out the Kelty racer’s advantage.
Both he and James – who suffered a similar disappointment during his second stint – re-established advantages of over 10s, but during the closing stages Dean was forced to defend to preserve his lead as 2024 title winner Christopher Haase applied extreme pressure and twice drew alongside him.
This he did as he recorded Greystone GT’s first GT Open victory on what was only the third series appearance for himself and James and came at the same circuit where four weeks earlier the team had secured the McLaren Trophy Europe 570S title.