Ellis was patient and waited for the Corvette to run wide at the Parabolica to allow his Ford GT to ease alongside down the pit straight, taking the lead on the inside of turn one. Although the Corvette stayed close at hand, the 20-year old kept his cool for the remaining 15 minutes to pull out a two-second lead at the chequered flag.
With Thomas Mutsch serving a grid penalty in the sister Matech Ford, Ellis made a blinding start from the front row on Sunday, before outbraking Bruce Lorgeré-Roux into turn one. But, with a wet track and the Ferrari boasting better traction, Lorgeré-Roux retook the lead on the exit and proved to have good pace in the opening laps.
Mutsch, meanwhile, was making his way through the field and was soon in third, joining Ellis in the lead fight. The German passed Ellis for position before the two Matech Fords worked together to limit the leading
Ferrari's advantage.
Around 15 minutes into the race, both eventually passed the leader, with Dino Lunardi coming through to third and trying to catch Ellis. Despite the increasing pressure on a drying track, the Briton kept control of second before heading for the pits to handover to Mortimer with 28 minutes to go. The Matech team's pit-stop was slick, so Mortimer was surprised to join the fight down in third, with the Dodge Viper miles ahead and the sister Ford GT still in the lead.
It soon materialised that both Khan, now in the lead car, and Gilles Vannelet, at the helm of the Viper, had infringed at their stops and, knowing that, Mortimer drove faultlessly to stay within fighting distance of the pair.
As neither Khan nor Vannelet returned to the pits to take their penalty, Mortimer crossed the line in third but, with Khan demoted to third and Vannelet to fifth under time penalties awarded after the race, was duly handed the victory.
The performance was enough to secure Ellis third in the driver standings, with Mortimer fourth despite being two rounds adrift after missing the season-opener at
Silverstone.
