Alex Fontana jumps on the podium in the Pro-Am class for the 24h of Spa

Alex Fontana was one of the protagonists of the 24h of Spa, one of the most important races of the season in GT racing: the Swiss driver ended the race second in the Pro-Am class, crossing the finish line 23rd overall. The Helvetic driver defended the colors of Centri Porsche Ticino, his team in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for this season; the driver from Ticino shared the Porsche 911 GT3 R with his compatriots and teammates Ivan Jacoma and Niki Leutwiler, with the addition of the German Nico Menzel for the 24h. This driver-line-up proved to be competitive already from the beginning of the weekend, securing a second place on the starting grid in the qualifying round; the team, which had the technical support of Car Collection Motorsport, then battled for the first position for a while, closing the first six hours of the race leading and descending to second by the 12th hour. With Fontana and his teammates’ incredible pace, he is able to take the lead in the Pro-Am class in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with 72 points. The driver, born in 1992, was also a protagonist of the GT4 European Series, where Centri Porsche Ticino brought a second Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 on track for Fontana and Patrick Hofmann. After a pretty good start in race-1, where the driver from Lugano brought himself into the top 10 at the end of his stint, the car had a breaking issue as soon as it joined back the track with Hofmann at the wheel. The German lost the control of the car, hitting the barriers during the 12th lap; unluckily, the damage was too much and it led the team to the retirement in race 1 - and they weren’t even able to participate in the second race of the weekend. Alex Fontana “This weekend in Spa-Francorchamps was difficult, going through such an important race as the 24h of Spa is always a great challenge and I’m really happy about the final result. The second place pays back all the effort we put in for this race and I want to thank both Centri Porsche Ticino and Niki, Ivan and Nico, who did an amazing job during the weekend. Moreover I really enjoyed being able to compete also in the GT4 European Series for the first time this season; bad luck hit us during the first race, when Patrick had a brake issue that led to many more problems. It wasn’t easy to skip race-2 but I want to thank the team for giving me this opportunity and AF Academy, which Patrick joined.”