Any journey, as exciting as it may be, has an end: the 2025 International GT Open is ready for the round closing the season, which will have an incomparable scenery, the “Temple of Speed” itself. It is indeed the magnificent Autodromo Nazionale di Monza hosting the final round, and it will do so in style. First of all, because, like last year, this will be the GT Open 500 race of the season, run on the format of a single endurance race of 500 km (87 laps) on Sunday. Secondly, because it promises to be a thrilling event, with a grid of 34 cars of 7 different car brands, and all the battle titles are completely open.
For the 19th time in 20 editions, the GT Open will have to wait for the final race to see its champion crowned, and this year there are no less than four contenders for the top title. In addition, the games are still completely open also in the Pro-Am and the Am classes.
OVERALL: A FOUR-WAY FINAL BATTLE
The suspense could not be higher ahead of the final battle for the top honours. Arriving in Italy as leader of the standings is Levente Révész, who drives the Team Motopark Mercedes AMG #11 together with Max Götz. The young Hungarian has achieved a successful switch from single-seaters to GT cars this year, and trong of 4 race wins, has an advantage of 5 points (4 in current net points, as the two worst results will have to be dropped in the final count) on the closest chaser. This is no other than the reigning champion Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase, who find themselves fighting for the title for the third consecutive year, thanks to their consistency. Having collected two blank results, they will have no points to drop.
Third in contention are local heroes Tommaso Mosca and Carl Bennett, the young pair of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 #51, which has had a crescendo performance throughout the season with three race wins along the way. With a maximum of 30 points still to be awarded, they are currently 11 points from the top (but, as things stand now, would have 6 points to discard). Another Ferrari, the one of Elite Motorsport, and another talented young pair, Britain’s Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon, are mathematically in the race, but with 24 points to catch up, the task of Tom&Tom is certainly more arduous. Still, odder things have been seen in the past.
Putting aside the title battle, there are plenty of other race-win candidates in the Pro class. In the Mercedes camp, GetSpeed is always among those, with Anthony Bartone this time associated with Renger van der Zande, who makes a one-off return to the series, while Marcelo Ramírez and Ralf Aron share the other car of the team.
The McLaren 720S has also visited all the podium steps regularly and could be particularly competitive on the fast 5.793-km track in Lombardy. Greystone GT is fielding the two-car line-up seen in the last rounds, with James Kell-Dean Macdonald and Jayden Kelly-Josh Ratican. Optimum Motorsport, on its side, enters more young British talent with Zac Meakin-Michael Porter, currently fifth in the standings.
Seeking revenge on home soil will be the two Lamborghini Huracans of Oregon Team, which fields its latest pairings, Francesco Simonazzi-Artem Petrov and Rodrigo Testa-Robin Rogalski.
The novelty in Monza will be an additional Ferrari 296 by AF Corse for the freshly-crowned Pro-Am champions in the Italian GT, Leonardo Colavita and Ibrahim Badawi, the latter being the first Egyptian driver to race in the GT Open.
PRO-AM: ALMOST A TIE-BREAK BETWEEN MERCEDES CARS
The situation is even more unpredictable in the always crowded and very competitive Pro-Am class, where two Mercedes AMG are fighting for the crown, separated by a single point and with the same amount of points (2) to be dropped. Keeping the narrow advantage is the GetSpeed car of Steve Jans and Aaron Walker, who took four race wins, while in the role of the chasers are Valentin Pierburg and Dominik Baumann, in the SPS-entered car that has taken two race successes.
The Silver Arrows are by far the best-represented cars in the class. SPS fields another AMG for championship regulars Dexter Müller and Yannick Mettler, and so does GetSpeed with the Vimana-livered car of Ameerh Naran-Tom Jackson. Motopark also has two cars in the class, with Heiko Neumann-Lukas Dunner, fifth in the standings, and the Dutch duo Remon Vos-Yelmar Buurman. Last but not least, BDR Grupo Prom is coming to Italy with a single entry, putting together its Mexican drivers, Alfredo Hernández and Luis Michael Dörrbecker.
There will be three Porsche 911 R in action this time, as, besides Car Collection (with drivers to be announced), Tsunami RT is fielding two cars. The Sanmarinese squad is adding to Johannes Zelger-Fabio Babini a second car for the top pair composed of Bashar Mardini and Alex Fontana, two men certainly not unknown in the GT Sport series.
Faithful as always are the two Audi R8 LMS of ISR Racing, third in the standings with Libor Milota and Filip Salaquarda, and Saintéloc Racing, with Michaël Blanchemain and Marcus Påverud. On their side, Olimp Racing’s Marcin Jedlinski and Karol Basz are switching again to the R8 for the occasion.
Ferrari isrepresented in the class by the #55 AF Corse car, Laurent De Meeus joined again this time by GT star Vincent Abril.
Racing Trevor is again sporting the BMW banner, with Antal Zsigo and Max Hesse off for a new outing. Last but not least, an interesting new entry appears in Italy. Auto Sport Racing is making its debut in the series, fielding Milos Pavlović and Michael Fischbaum in its Lamborghini Huracan, bringing to six the number of car brands present in the class.
AM: FERRARI-McLAREN DUEL UP TO THE END
There will be an exciting final battle also in the Am class, where the season has been dominated by the duel between the AF Corse Ferrari of Gino Forgione and Michele Rugolo and the Garage 59 McLaren of Mark Sansom. While the Italian duo can claim an impressive number of wins, eight, against the four of their British rival, the points gap on the eve of the decisive round is only 4 points (6 if we take stock of net points at the moment). No doubt the battle will be tough. At Monza, Sansom, who has alternated teammates during the season, will be associated with local hero and former Pro-Am double champion Marco Pulcini.
Fighting for the final third position will be the Olimp Racing Ferrari of Stanislaw Jedliński and Krystian Korzeniowski, while Garage 59 fields a second McLaren for Alexander West and a driver to be nominated.
In Italy will reappear, for a second outing in both cases, the FullinRace Audi R8 LMS of Petr Fulín and Jiri Navrátil from Czechia, and the Track Focused McLaren 720S of Darren Kell, paired with WEC star Darren Leung.