Making a debut start in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Sam headed to Monza for the first of the five-date calendar. Overall performances for the trio, and the set-up of the #5 entry, looked strong, but there was a struggle for overall top-end pace in the opening practice sessions. This had a particularly big effect over the course of lap with Monza’s long straights. However, changes overnight ahead of qualifying, meant the McLaren was immediately back on form, fighting near the front.

Electrical outages at the circuit meant that qualifying was initially delayed, before Charlie set the first session benchmark time. His laptime put the Optimum McLaren at the front of the Gold Cup field, and was only 0.5s off the overall quickest time. He was then followed by Sam who delivered a particularly impressive performance, continuing to improve his times during the session, extending the gap at the front with the car’s quickest lap. A further electrical issue immediately after the second session meant that qualifying was cut short, and the grid would be set by the combined times from the opening two runs, securing Sam and the Optimum Motorsport a maiden pole position, P11 overall.

The race got underway with Charlie taking the start, while Sam and Dean watched on as the 55-car grid headed into the notorious first chicane. Contact further back in the field saw several cars involved in an incident, bringing out the Safety Car, while Charlie maintained position at the front of the field. On the restart, the #5 red and black McLaren started to make progress up the overall order, climbing to P7 at the 1-hour mark. The team opted to stay out slightly longer than some of the lead runners, gaining further positions on track and running in clear air before Charlie entered the pitlane to hand over to Sam.

A minor delay in the pitlane saw Sam emerge still in the class podium positions, but now slightly down the overall order. Undeterred, he was quickly up to speed and set about closing the gap to the cars ahead. Showing good pace, Sam delivered a faultless stint, engaging in battles to move forward while also closing down the gap to the further podium spots. This pace set up a solid base for a push for the line in the final hour, and the chase continued as Dean took over, bringing the lead gap down with each lap. Halfway through the stint, Dean was on the rear bumper of P2 and just waited to make his move. At the line, the #5 McLaren signed off a successful weekend in the Gold Cup runners-up position, recovering to just outside the top-10 overall.

“An action-packed way to start the season, and really proud of the whole Optimum team for the podium result. We have come a long way in a short time. A P2 finish is the result of a lot of hard work and is a huge achievement, especially against such strong competition. It was great to get our first pole position as well, and really shows that we have the pace and ability over the single lap as well as on the longer runs. Now we just need to keep the momentum up and build on this. We are heading straight into another race week, so more miles in the McLaren, which can only make us stronger.”

Sam is back in action with the Optimum Motorsport team, at the wheel of the McLaren for the opening round of International GT Open, taking place at Autodromo do Algarve, Portimao in Portugal this weekend.