Only two weeks after Hockenheim, the 2026 International GT Open returns for one of the biggest events of the season as a 34-car field heads to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the second GT Open 500 of the year.
Following the endurance contest at Spa-Francorchamps in May, Monza again replaces the usual two-race format with a single 500km race and awards double championship points. With only the Barcelona finale remaining afterwards, the penultimate round has the potential to transform all three title battles before the championship reaches its conclusion in October.
The 5.793km Monza circuit provides an appropriate setting. The high-speed layout places greater emphasis on straight-line performance, braking stability and the ability to work efficiently through traffic over the longer race distance. Monza also shares a unique place in International GT Open history with Barcelona, with the two circuits having appeared in every season across the championship’s 21 editions.
The championship arrives in Italy with Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon holding their strongest advantage of the season following victory at Hockenheim, but the double-points format means Christian Mansell and Maximilian Götz, Zac Meakin and the ZRS Motorsport pairing of Pietro Armanni and Alex Fontana still have a major opportunity to respond.
Emson and Lebbon take 23-point advantage to Monza
Emson and Lebbon have increasingly established themselves as the crew to beat during 2026. The Elite Motorsport with Entire Race Engineering drivers have won five races in the #17 Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO and lead the standings by 23 points entering Monza.
Their season has repeatedly required them to respond after difficult results. They swept both races at Misano before rebounding again during Round 5 at Paul Ricard, and Hockenheim produced another example. A sixth-place finish on Saturday allowed several rivals to close, but Emson and Lebbon mastered a chaotic wet Race 2 to collect another victory while their closest championship challengers struggled.
The result has given them breathing room, but Monza’s scoring system prevents that advantage from becoming comfortable. With double points available from the single endurance race, a retirement or low finish could immediately undo much of the margin they have spent six rounds building.
Ferrari should also be well suited to Monza’s high-speed characteristics, giving the championship leaders reason for confidence as they attempt to take another significant step towards the title.
Mansell and Götz return to 500km format as proven winners
Mansell and Götz remain the closest challengers, 23 points behind in the #71 Team Motopark Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Their Hockenheim weekend was difficult, with eighth in Race 1 followed by 18th in the wet second contest, but the longer race format has already produced their biggest result of the season.
The Motopark pairing dominated the first GT Open 500 at Spa, taking pole before controlling the race and moving into the championship lead. Their Spa victory demonstrated how effective the Mercedes-AMG package could be over the longer endurance format, and another major result is required if they are to reduce Elite Motorsport’s growing advantage.
Mansell and Götz have two wins this season but now need to rediscover the form that made them early championship leaders. A strong Monza weekend would take the contest into Barcelona, while another sizeable loss to Emson and Lebbon could leave the British pairing with an imposing advantage for the finale.
Meakin’s consistency keeps Greystone in contention
Only one point behind Mansell and Götz sits Meakin, making the Greystone GT driver another serious championship threat. He trails Emson and Lebbon by 24 points after becoming one of the most consistent podium finishers in the field.
Meakin has stood on the podium eight times during the season, although only one of those results has been a victory. That consistency has kept him firmly involved even as Elite Motorsport, Team Motopark and ZRS Motorsport accumulated more wins.
His championship total differs from teammate Macdonald’s because the latter missed Paul Ricard, where Joseph Loake substituted in the #33 McLaren. Macdonald consequently enters Monza on 93 points compared with Meakin’s 98, but the pair remain together for the penultimate round.
Hockenheim reinforced their strength as a combination. They finished second in Race 1 before recovering from 14th on the Sunday grid to claim another podium in third. Greystone’s second McLaren also finished second in the wet contest, helping the team leave Germany at the head of the Teams’ Championship.
The GT Open 500 now offers Meakin an opportunity to turn that consistent podium record into the major points swing he needs.
Armanni and Fontana cannot afford another missed opportunity
Armanni and Fontana remain fourth in the title battle with ZRS Motorsport. The #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO has been one of the fastest cars throughout the season, producing three victories and three further podium finishes, but several missed opportunities have prevented the pair from converting that pace into the championship lead.
Hockenheim was another example. Armanni and Fontana finished third on Saturday before Fontana secured pole for Race 2, only for first-lap contact to send the Porsche spinning to the rear. They recovered to ninth, but the result became significantly more costly when Emson and Lebbon won.
They now arrive at Monza 30 points behind the leaders. The deficit is substantial, but double points keep them firmly relevant. The Porsche has demonstrated competitive pace at a variety of circuits this season, and ZRS Motorsport has already established itself as a genuine contender during its first full GT Open campaign.
After Monza, however, only Barcelona remains. The Italian weekend therefore represents a particularly important opportunity for Armanni and Fontana to move back towards the leaders.
Villorba Corse arrives with breakthrough momentum
The four championship contenders will also have to deal with a much deeper Pro field. Twelve cars are entered in the category, and several combinations outside the title fight have already demonstrated race-winning pace.
Scuderia Villorba Corse arrives with perhaps the strongest momentum after Moncini and Testa finally secured their maiden victory at Hockenheim. Moncini took his first GT Open pole before the pair controlled Race 1 in the #63 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
The result followed several near misses earlier in the year, including second place in the Spa GT Open 500. Monza therefore gives the young pairing another opportunity in a format that has already suited them particularly well.
Their presence could also matter significantly to the championship. Any victory or podium for Villorba removes major points from the title contenders, making the fight for outright positions even more important than the direct gaps between the leading four crews.
Ferrari brings strength in numbers at home
Elite Motorsport will not be Ferrari’s only major Pro threat on home ground.
AF Corse continues with Rafael Durán and Tommaso Mosca, who have repeatedly shown enough pace to challenge near the front but are still searching for their first victory of the season. Hockenheim again demonstrated their potential, with Mosca mounting a strong Race 1 charge before a time penalty dropped the car from the podium positions.
Vladislav Veselaho and Lorenzo Ferrari provide another competitive AF Corse entry and have regularly featured around the top 10. Both combinations should benefit from a circuit where efficiency and straight-line performance play a particularly important role.
Al Manar Racing by Dragon also returns for its third appearance of the season. Al Faisal Al Zubair will share the Ferrari with Dennis Marschall, giving the team an experienced professional pairing capable of disrupting the regular championship contenders.
With Emson and Lebbon leading the title fight and several additional Ferraris capable of taking points from their rivals, the manufacturer arrives at Monza with considerable strength across the Pro field.
Motopark expands to three Mercedes-AMGs
Team Motopark strengthens its presence for the endurance event with three Pro entries.
Alongside the championship-challenging #71 of Mansell and Götz, Marcelo Ramírez and Dominik Baumann continue in the team’s regular second Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. The combination has already contributed several useful results during the year and provides Motopark with another opportunity to influence both the race and Teams’ Championship.
A third Mercedes, the #99, joins the line-up for former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin and César Gazeau. Mazepin has already appeared with Motopark during the latter stages of the season, while Gazeau adds another young driver to the team’s expanding programme.
The three-car presence gives Motopark more opportunities to score strongly in the Teams’ competition while also placing additional machinery between Mansell and Götz and their Drivers’ Championship rivals.
Leipert returns with Leitch and Stati
Leipert Motorsport makes a selected return to the International GT Open with the #70 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for Brendon Leitch and Nicolas Stati.
The German operation last appeared in the series in 2024 but has maintained a long relationship with Lamborghini machinery. Leitch brings considerable GT experience and previous GT Open knowledge, while 17-year-old Stati continues his rapid transition from single-seaters into GT competition after finishing runner-up in both Australian and United States Formula 4.
The pair already know each other well. They won both Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe races at Misano last year and reunited at the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi earlier in 2026. Leipert will also operate a second programme during the Monza weekend, making its GT Cup Europe debut with Axel Bengtsson and Barrett Wolfe.
Without championship considerations, Leitch and Stati can approach the 500km race purely as a standalone opportunity and could become another factor among the established Pro contenders.
FAEMS Team by Nova Race makes GT Open debut
The other significant newcomer is FAEMS Team by Nova Race, which will make its International GT Open debut with a BMW M4 GT3 EVO for Giuseppe Forenzi and Ian Rodríguez.
The Italian operation enters Monza while evaluating a possible full championship programme in 2027. FAEMS already has strong links to the GT Sport paddock after winning both the Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in GT Cup Europe last season, while technical partner Nova Race has previous GT Open experience from selected appearances with Honda machinery.
Forenzi and Rodríguez currently share the BMW in the Italian GT Championship, giving the pair an established working relationship before their first GT Open weekend. Rodríguez also brings direct GT Sport success after winning the 2025 GT Cup Europe title with FAEMS.
The debut therefore serves two purposes. Monza gives the team the chance to fight for a result in one of the championship’s biggest races while also providing a direct benchmark before deciding whether to commit to the full 2027 season.
Fach carries narrow Pro-Am lead
Pro-Am provides the largest class at Monza with 14 entries, and its championship situation is even tighter than the overall title fight.
Alexander Fach continues to lead after four class victories in the #11 Fach Auto Tech Porsche, but his advantage is only four points. Alexander Schwarzer again shares the car as Fach attempts to protect a lead that has gradually come under greater pressure during the second half of the season.
Blackthorn’s Charles Bateman represents the immediate threat. He has won three times during 2026 and will again partner former GT Open champion Henrique Chaves for the final two rounds. The combination gives Blackthorn considerable experience as it attempts to overturn the narrow deficit.
Only another 10 points behind Fach are Olimp Racing’s Marcin Jedliński and Karol Basz. Their campaign has relied more on consistent scoring than outright domination, but that approach has kept them firmly involved heading into a race where the increased points allocation makes consistency especially valuable.
ISR Racing’s Libor Milota and Filip Salaquarda sit fourth, 18 points from the championship lead. Their Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II may be one of the oldest packages represented on the grid, but the car remains competitive. Saintéloc Racing reinforced that point at Hockenheim when Michaël Blanchemain and Jim Pla claimed the Pro-Am victory in another Audi.
Deep Pro-Am field could reshape championship
The championship contenders face significant opposition throughout the 14-car Pro-Am entry.
BMW representation increases with the return of the 4F PTT Racing Team entry for Hubert Darmetko and Fabian Dybionka, alongside Mikkel and Lars Pedersen in the Pedersen Racing BMW.
Ferrari is similarly well represented. Olimp’s championship-challenging entry is joined by regular AF Corse combinations Laurent De Meeus and Vincent Abril, plus Norik Racing’s Norikazu Shibata and Charlie Fagg. Into Africa Racing by Dragon continues with Xolile Letlaka and Axcil Jefferies.
Greystone GT fields its second McLaren for Andrey Borodin and Ollie Webb, while Darren and James Kell arrive with confidence after securing their first two podium finishes of the season at Hockenheim in the Track Focused McLaren.
Former class champions Dexter Müller and Yannick Mettler remain a threat in the SPS Mercedes-AMG after claiming victory during the German weekend, while ASR provides a late addition with its Lamborghini for Miloš Pavlović and Michael Fischbaum.
With so many combinations capable of challenging for the podium, Fach and Bateman cannot treat Monza simply as a direct championship duel.
Am fight narrows to ten points
The Am championship brings another closely balanced contest, with eight cars entered.
Adrian Lewandowski remains the championship leader in the Baron Motorsport Ferrari, but his advantage has fallen to only 10 points. At Monza he will share the car with his father Andrzej, adding another experienced combination to the endurance field.
Fach Auto Tech’s Monegro Reyes remains his primary challenger. The Dominican driver moved closer with a strong Hockenheim weekend, including victory in Race 1, and now partners Constantin Dressler at Monza.
A further 13 points behind Monegro Reyes, and 23 from the championship lead, sit Hahn and Osman in the AF Corse Ferrari. Their three victories equal Monegro Reyes for the highest total in the class, keeping the Brazilian pairing firmly involved despite the larger deficit.
Double points mean all three leading combinations have substantial opportunities to alter the championship order before Barcelona.
Hockenheim winners Förch Racing return
The Am field also contains several crews capable of complicating the championship battle.
Stanislaw Jedliński and Krystian Korzeniowski continue in the Olimp Racing Ferrari, while Hernández reunites with endurance teammate Stéphane Tribaudini in the Grupo Prom Mercedes-AMG.
Förch Racing by Atlas Ward returns after making an immediate impact at Hockenheim. Dwernicki and Magdziarz claimed the Am victory during the team’s first weekend of its late-season programme, which is being used as preparation for a planned full GT Open campaign in 2027.
AF Corse also brings back Ray Acosta and Marco Bonanomi for their second appearance of the season, while GoodSpeed Racing returns after missing Hockenheim. Wira will share its Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO with Czech driver Denis Waszek.
That depth leaves Lewandowski, Monegro Reyes and Hahn-Osman with little margin for error despite being the principal title contenders.
Double points create major championship opportunity
The 500km format adds a different set of demands from a conventional GT Open weekend. Rather than having two separate opportunities to score, every championship point at Monza depends on one race. Strategy, pit-stop execution, traffic management and reliability therefore become even more important.
The format has already produced a significant championship swing this season. Mansell and Götz entered the Spa GT Open 500 as one of several crews near the front of the standings but left Belgium as championship leaders after taking the maximum score. One decisive endurance result can therefore change the season considerably.
Monza carries even greater significance because there is less time to recover afterwards. Once the chequered flag falls, only Barcelona remains.
For Emson and Lebbon, that creates an opportunity to convert their 23-point advantage into a commanding lead before the finale. For Mansell and Götz, Meakin, and Armanni and Fontana, it provides the chance to erase much of the deficit in a single afternoon.
The same applies in Pro-Am, where only four points separate Fach and Bateman, and in Am, where Lewandowski’s advantage over Monegro Reyes stands at 10.
34 cars prepare for the Temple of Speed
The size of the Monza field adds another challenge. Twelve Pro cars, 14 Pro-Am entries and eight Am crews produce a 34-car grid, two more than contested the first GT Open 500 at Spa earlier in the season.
That traffic will be especially important around Monza. The enormous closing speeds produced by GT3 cars along the circuit’s straights can make class traffic difficult to judge, while the heavy braking zones at the Rettifilo and Roggia chicanes create obvious opportunities for both overtaking and contact.
The longer race also increases the importance of consistency. A combination that lacks the outright pace to dominate qualifying can remain competitive through efficient pit work and clean stints, while even a small mistake carries the potential to lose significantly more time than during a conventional sprint race.
The additional entries from Leipert, FAEMS Team by Nova Race and returning teams throughout Pro-Am and Am should therefore add another layer of unpredictability.
Monza could define the path to Barcelona
The final phase of the championship began at Hockenheim with four combinations still closely matched in the overall battle. Germany gave Emson and Lebbon their first meaningful cushion, but Monza’s double-points structure ensures the championship remains far from settled.
Elite Motorsport enters as the benchmark after five wins, yet Mansell and Götz have already demonstrated their strength in a 500km race. Meakin’s relentless podium consistency has moved him within one point of second, while Armanni and Fontana know another missed opportunity could effectively end their challenge.
Behind them, Villorba Corse arrives fresh from victory, Ferrari has considerable strength at its home event, Motopark expands to three cars, and Leipert and FAEMS add two intriguing one-off Pro entries.
The situation is even less settled in the support classes. Fach has only four points in hand over Bateman in Pro-Am, while Monegro Reyes has reduced Lewandowski’s Am advantage to 10.
Monza therefore arrives at precisely the right point in the season. The 34-car field, 500km format and double points provide enough variables to overturn the championship picture, but there is only one round left afterwards to repair any damage. At the Temple of Speed, every position could have consequences that carry all the way to Barcelona.
