Italian drivers have made 15 IMS starts at Monza. Between them they have scored 184 points, won twice and reached the podium four times.
They have never taken pole.
That last number feels almost out of place at a circuit so closely tied to Italian motorsport, but the home record is not short of substance. Twelve of those 15 starts ended in the top 10, and both Italian victories belong to drivers who will be back on the grid this week.
Quenooo won here in Season 3. Rickk116 took the first victory of his IMS career here in Season 5. MacoDelVolante returns after seven rounds away with a one-word promise for Red Bull, while gennaro1173 arrives fresh from a Japan podium and already has the Italian wine on standby.
Monza gives all four something different to chase: a championship, a restoration, a revival and a breakthrough.
Italy's IMS record at Monza
| Driver | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Points | Best finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| II M4IK II | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 3rd |
| quenooo29 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 46 | 1st |
| Rickk116 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 1st |
| zoolander83🇮🇹 🇯🇵 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2nd |
| gennaro1173 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5th |
| MacoDelVolante | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10th |
| Combined | 15 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 184 | 1st |
The current quartet accounts for nine of those starts, both victories and 114 points. II M4IK II and zoolander83 complete the list of Italians who have previously raced at Monza; Bonfo, Florian Pfanzelter, ItsHeatGang and Toto have yet to make an official start there.
Quenooo can bring the title home
Monza is not merely another circuit on Quenooo's calendar. It is where his IMS career began.
He started third and finished ninth on his debut in Season 1. Two seasons later he returned, started second and won. His three Monza appearances have produced 46 points, level with II M4IK II for the highest total by an Italian, but this visit carries a consequence none of the others did.
Quenooo leads OnlineGuy99 by 46 points in D3. OnlineGuy99 is due to miss Monza after reaching 12 penalty points, leaving the leader with a clean opportunity to decide the championship himself. Nineteen points would stretch the gap beyond the maximum 64 available over the final two rounds.
The arithmetic is stark. Quenooo's approach is deliberately less so.
“It would mean a lot, having been there in real life even just seeing it on the game gives me great memories. But I try to think of it as a race like any other, even if it could close the door shut on this title fight.”
He knows Monza beyond the game, has already won there in IMS and now arrives with the championship at his mercy. Treating it like any other race may be the only way to handle a weekend that is anything but ordinary.
MacoDelVolante returns with one word: dominance
Red Bull's D1 season changed the moment MacoDelVolante stepped away.
He opened Season 7 by taking pole and victory in Texas, scoring 31 points. Seventh in Austria followed, then seven rounds on the sidelines. Wadz scored 19 points across the seven D1 races that followed and ended that run 17th in Japan. Red Bull now turns back to the driver who began the season at the front.
Asked what he wanted to restore immediately at Monza, both for himself and for the team, Maco did not waste a syllable.
“Dominance.”
It is a wonderfully confident answer for a driver whose home record still leaves unfinished business. Maco qualified fourth and second across two Monza starts in Season 6, but converted them into 13th and 10th. Three points from two excellent starting positions do not reflect the speed that put him there.
This time he returns to an all-Italian Red Bull pairing, carrying the authority of an opening-round winner and the burden of proving that seven races away have changed nothing.
gennaro1173 arrives with proof — and wine
The other Red Bull brings momentum rather than mystery.
gennaro1173 started sixth in Japan and finished third, giving Red Bull a podium from the very D1 line-up that had spent much of the season searching for dependable points. It also gave him an emphatic answer to a difficult run in D2.
“The Suzuka result showed me that my D2 results were simply bad luck and poor sleep rather than lack of talent.”
Monza has rewarded his recovery drives before. He climbed from 19th to eighth in Season 5 and from sixth to fifth in Season 6, scoring in both appearances. He has never stood on the podium there, but he has never left without points either.
Alongside Maco, he sees the possibility of something larger than an individual result.
“And yes I’ve known for a while now that Maco was coming back for Monza but to be honest a cheeky double podium here maybe I’d have to get out the Italian wine.”
Maco supplies the declaration. gennaro supplies the recent evidence. If Red Bull can combine the two, the home pair may finally give Italy its first two-driver Monza celebration.
Rickk116 returns to the scene of his first win
No Italian with more than one Monza start has a better average finish than Rickk116.
He started third and won in Season 5, then returned a season later and climbed from seventh to fourth. Two starts have brought 45 points and an average finish of 2.5 — a home record built almost entirely at the sharp end.
The contrast with Season 7 is severe. Rickk has 42 points from six D1 starts, no podiums and no victories. His last two appearances ended 16th in Qatar and 14th in Japan. Monza therefore offers more than sentiment: it is the strongest evidence available that his season can still turn.
Rickk is ready to “hopefully try get my first of the year here at Monza”, but has no interest in allowing the difficult results behind him to occupy the cockpit.
“Also i don’t really think about the past that much, you know yesterdays history and tomorrow is a mystery so i’m just focusing on the race right now.”
For once, the past is worth remembering. Monza gave Rickk his first IMS win. A second would rescue a season that has so far offered little of the same joy.
One home race, four different pressures
Italy's IMS Monza record has been built by six drivers across four previous visits. Season 3 remains its high point: three Italian starters, three podiums and Quenooo's victory. Season 6 brought the largest group, with seven starts, but no podium at all.
This year's quartet has the chance to move the story forward in almost every direction.
Quenooo can settle D3. Maco can show that the speed which won the opening race survived seven rounds away. gennaro can turn one Japan podium into a genuine run of form. Rickk can return to the place where winning first became possible and make it happen again.
Maco wants dominance. gennaro is considering the wine. Rickk is leaving yesterday behind. Quenooo needs 19 points to become champion for the second time.
Monza will decide which version of the homecoming Italy gets.
