•    Sweden’s Emil Hellberg produces drive of his life to take victory in race one 
•    First outright win for Allay Racing Ligier LMP3 in Prototype Cup Europe
•    Breathtaking conclusion between Hellberg and GMS Team’s Danny Soufi
•    More action tomorrow with race two qualifying and 55-minute contest 

Monza, Italy (1 August 2026):

Emil Hellberg delivered, arguably, his best performance of the Prototype Cup Europe season at a baking hot Monza in Italy this afternoon, to take his first outright victory in the championship at the wheel of the No.48 Allay Racing Ligier JS P325. 

From fifth on the grid, the Swedish racer stayed in the lead group throughout the first half of the contest and assumed the lead when the early podium challengers made their mandatory mid-race pit-stops. As the last of the lead pack to pit, Hellberg emerged back into the race just 0.6 seconds ahead of GMS Team driver Danny Soufi who took over the No.11 Ligier from Valentino Catalano.

Sparking an almighty battle to the finish, after an impossibly close final lap – where they touched on two occasions – Hellberg took a famous win from Soufi, with Tobias Bille Clausen third in the No.8 BWT Mücke Motorsport Duqueine D09 he shares with Mattis Pluschkell. 

“It was really fun, really hot, but hard”, said a thrilled and relieved Hellberg, “It was about 15 minutes left when I came out [of the pits], I saw Danny Soufi in the mirror and I thought, this is going to be hard but I’m going to push for it! He gave me a little love kiss into the first corner [on the last lap], it wasn’t that hard, and he was really close in the mirror when we came out of the corner. 

“I thought it was smoking from my back tyre, so I got a bit scared, and I blocked the route to the second chicane – I braked really late and he went straight on. I saw him coming back on and he went off at the first Lesmo, so now I can relax a bit. I was a little bit afraid I was going to get a puncture, as I had so much smoke, then the smoke stopped. It was really fun, really hard and it was a good race.”

Catalano made the most of pole to lead the pack down to the Rettifilo Chicane, but a fast-starting Zino Fahlke – lining-up an elevated second in the Larea GT1 Racing Duqueine after a penalty from qualifying for Pluschkell – had to cut the corner on turn-in and rejoined in fourth behind Pluschkell and Aust Motorsport’s Maxim Dirickx. 

As the leader edged away by a tenth or two, Dirickx came under serious pressure from a resurgent Fahlke with Hellberg and Team Virage’s Maximilian Kammerlander line astern. Fahlke pushed hard and soon grabbed third at the Rettifilo, instantly opening up some space to Dirickx in the No.3.

Catalano was a second to the good by lap three, Pluschkell then responded the next time around but he lost all he gained, and more, after a moment on lap six. The lead went out to three seconds, as Pluschkell fell into Fahlke’s clutches, and Catalano doubled that advantage before pitting on lap 14. 

Fahlke and Dirickx were actually the first of the front-runners to pit, then Pluschkell, and after Catalano had next headed to pitlane the lead of the race was inherited by Hellberg. He took his stop at the end of lap 16 and, with a shorter time to remain stationary in the pits due to his Bronze driver grading, the sole driver of No.48 emerged a fraction ahead of Soufi, who took over from Catalano.

With Soufi’s experience and pace, it seemed only a matter of time before he would mount a bid for the race lead but try as he might he couldn’t make Hellberg crack. On lap 18 the GMS Team driver had a look into the Roggia Chicane, where he had to run straight on, but quickly recovered lost time.

Soufi swarmed all over Hellberg’s car, but the Swede soaked up the pressure brilliantly, and it all built to an incredible final lap. First there was slight contact to the rear of the Allay Ligier into the first chicane as Soufi braked as late as he could, then more contact at the Roggia as Hellberg held the centre of the track and braked as late as he dare. 

Having to cut the corner as a result, Soufi rejoined but then slid off through the gravel at the first of the Lesmos. Hellberg looked to be home free, although smoke coming from his right-rear tyre did cause some worry, but all was OK and he took his maiden series win by just over five seconds from Soufi, who was still almost 10 seconds to the good over Clausen in the No.8 Duqueine. 

Fahlke was next, just 0.9 seconds shy of the overall podium in fourth, with Nigel Moore fifth in the No.3 Aust Ligier shared with Dirickx. Hellberg’s brother Linus, in the No.43 Allay Racing Ligier, then completed the top six.

Along with his overall victory, Emil Hellberg claimed the Prototype Cup Europe Trophy Championship win for race one of the weekend with Catalano earning the Junior Championship victory. Theo Micouris, who took the second stint of the race for the No.74 Team Virage Ligier, set the fastest lap with a time of 1m44.392s on the final tour. Steering problems ended the race for Virage’s No.77 car. 

Qualifying for race two of the Monza weekend is scheduled to begin at 09.30 local time tomorrow, Sunday, 2 August, with the 55-minute encounter following at 14.05. Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube will carry live streaming of the race – links for the coverage and live timing can be found at the championship website www.prototype-cup-europe.com