SPRINT RACE: Impressive Tramnitz comes through to win again in Monza

Tim Tramnitz made it two consecutive Monza Sprint Race victories as he came through from third on the grid to win Saturday’s 18-lap encounter.

The MP Motorsport driver dropped to P4 on the opening lap but steadily climbed through to claim a second win of the season. Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski came from seventh to finish in P2 as Hitech TGR driver Martinius Stenshorne took third.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was a great start from P2 for Stenshorne as he got ahead of pole-sitter Laurens van Hoepen on the run to Turn 1. The ART Grand Prix driver was keen to retake the position but ran too deep into the Turn 4 chicane, allowing his Hitech TGR rival to keep the place.

The Safety Car was then deployed following an incident on the opening lap that caused Ivan Domingues to crash into the barrier at Turn 1.

As the Van Amersfoort Racing car was being cleared away, AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, as he had hit the rear of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s car at the Ascari chicane.

Racing resumed on Lap 5 of 18, and Tramnitz immediately went side-by-side with van Hoepen through the first sector, with the MP Motorsport driver taking P2 at the entry of Turn 4.

Behind them, Matías Zagazeta was showing some good form, as he overtook Tuukka Taponen for fourth place on the run down to Turn 1.

The ART driver’s struggles continued on Lap 6, as he lost out to Alessandro Giusti, Bilinski and Ugo Ugochukwu, dropping the Finn to P8.

Bilinski’s charged continued as he overtook both Giusti and Zagazeta to get up to fourth down the main straight on Lap 8.

Tramnitz then took the lead from Stenshorne as they went wheel-to-wheel, with the German getting ahead at Turn 1. Bilinski did the same just behind, this time overtaking van Hoepen to put him in P3.

Zagazeta’s P5 was then coming under pressure from the PREMA Racing pairing of Ugochukwu and Noel León on Lap 10, but the DAMS Lucas Oil driver held them off.

León then used the DRS and slipstream to get ahead of Ugochukwu into Turn 1 on Lap 12, while up the road, Bilinski and Stenshorne had gone side-by-side into same corner.

The Hitech driver did however go to deep into the corner and by doing so, he kept the place, with his team then coming on the radio to tell him to give the position to his Rodin rival.

Behind them, in trying to avoid hitting the rear of his teammate, Ugochukwu took to the grass and then the Turn 1 run off, dropping him from seventh to 12th.

Onto Lap 15 of 18, and Tramnitz had pulled out a 2.8s gap out in front, as Bilinski and Stenshorne continued to battle for position.

However, the MP driver’s lead was taken away as the Safety Car was deployed following a collision between León, Brando Badoer and Charlie Wurz, causing the TRIDENT driver to stop on track.

The Safety Car came in on the penultimate tour, giving us one racing lap. However, Tramnitz had an excellent restart and kept the lead into Turn 1.

The MP driver then pulled off into the distance as he went on to win the Monza Sprint Race for the second consecutive year. Bilinski wound up in P2 after holding off Stenshorne across the line.

Van Hoepen ended up in fourth, ahead of Zagazeta, while Mari Boya charged from P17 to sixth. Giusti finished in seventh but only after making slight contact with Nikola Tsolov at the final corner that dropped the Bulgarian outside the points.

León wound up in eighth ahead of Callum Voisin as Noah Stromsted took the final point in P10.

KEY QUOTE – Tim Tramnitz, MP Motorsport

“Super happy. Just happy to do it here in Monza, Italy really seems to like me, also after the Sprint win in Imola. A good start to the weekend and also happy to end the season with a win.”

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Rafael Câmara just outside the points in P12 despite starting in last place, so stays on 156 points, while Mari Boya stays in second on 113 points, with Nikola Tsolov is third on 106. Tim Tramnitz stays fourth but closes in on the top three on 104, while Martinius Stenshorne is fifth on 88 points.

In the Teams’ Standings, TRIDENT retain the lead on 283 point going into the final race, but Campos Racing have cut the deficit to 15 points. MP Motorsport are third on 181 points, ahead of ART Grand Prix on 151 with Van Amersfoort Racing rounding out the top five on 136.

UP NEXT

There is one final race to round off the 2025 season with the Monza Feature Race set for lights out at 08:15 local time.