The penultimate round of the 2026 International GT Open season is scheduled for this coming weekend at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. Alex Fontana will be joined by Pietro Armanni in the #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R EVO (992) entered by ZRS Motorsport. As is now customary in the series organised by GT Sport, the Italian round will be held in the endurance format, with a single 500-kilometre race on the Sunday.
The Armanni-Fontana pairing have so far accumulated 92 points in the championship standings, just seven points off 2nd place, climbing to 5th position thanks in part to their three victories at Portimão, the Hungaroring and Paul Ricard. Alex already has plenty of recent experience on the Brianza circuit in GT3 cars, particularly in a Porsche, having competed in the GT World Challenge Europe’s 3 Hours of Monza in May this year. The Swiss driver also secured 3rd place overall in 2021 in a Huracán GT3, winning the Silver class, whilst in Formula 3 he laid claim the top step of the podium in 2011.
The weekend’s programme sees proceedings get under way on Thursday 24 September with private testing sessions at 11.10 and 14.50. The first official free practice sessions will follow on the Friday at 11.20 and 15.50. Qualifying will take place on Saturday at 11.20 and 14.45. As this is an endurance weekend, the starting grid will be determined by the average of the times set in the two qualifying sessions. On Sunday 26 September, competitors in the Monza 500km will see the green flag waved at 12:30, with the race having a maximum duration of 2 hours and 55 minutes plus one lap.
Alex Fontana
“We’ll be back at Monza once again in high spirits following the podium finish and pole position we secured at Hockenheim. It’s always a pleasure to return to Italy, which is Pietro’s home race and that of the ZRS Motorsport team. It’s something of a home race for me too, as lots of friends, fans and supporters from the Canton Ticino can always come to see me. We’ll be doing all we can to bring home a result that we hope will also give us a boost in the standings.”