Matteo Cairoli ended the 6 Hours of Monza, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2023, eighth in the LM GTE Am class. At the wheel of the Porsche 911 RSR of Project 1 AO, the driver from Como raced with the Portuguese driver Guilherme Moura De Oliveira, his teammate also during the 6h of Portimao, and with the Dominican Efrin Castro, championship leader in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro Am and at his debut in the World Endurance Championship.
Cairoli immediately showed his potential, closing the third free practice session with the best timing of 1:46.672. However, the qualifying round, with Castro at the wheel, was a bit more complicated: the Dominican ended tenth after causing a brief red flag as he spun at the Variante Ascari. During the race, both Castro and Moura De Oliveira were great at handling the race with no particular mistakes, however, a Safety Car deployment with the worst timing saw the Project 1 AO entry finish a lap behind the LM GTE Am class leader, losing a ton of precious time. Cairoli then jumped into the cockpit for the last two hours of the race, showing his full potential and even signing the class’ fastest lap in 1:46.863. Cairoli crossed the finish line eighth in his category after a drive through penalty, managing to score some points anyway.
The next round for the driver from Como in the FIA World Endurance Championship will be in Japan, as the Fuji Speedway will host the sixth and penultimate appointment of the championship in 2023 on September 8th-10th.
Matteo Cairoli
“The fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship was really difficult, but I’m happy to have finished it still in the points. Racing at home is always very exciting: the Autodromo Nazionale Monza is the perfect venue for these kinds of races, and being able to participate in the World Championship on this track is really important for me. I want to thank both the team Project 1 AO for the support during this weekend and my teammates Guilherme and Efrim for the efforts made during the whole round: I can’t wait to go back on track in Japan in September.”
