Two races to go, and the Crown Racing Series is entering the business end of the championship, where every result matters that little bit more and where a bad weekend could sink a title challenge.
It seemed fitting, then, that the series' next destination would be Monza, the temple of speed, and a track that rewards not only the fastest driver but also the bravest.
By the end of the Monza meeting, three drivers were left in contention for the inaugural CRS title after Youp de Vos took maximum points at Monza. However, de Vos had finished second on the road behind dominant race winner David Bozga, only for the Belgian to receive a post-race penalty.
Nicolai Pedersen remained in control of the championship race with third, ahead of his closest challenger, Balazs Erdelyi, and Igor Kos, who drove a storming race to finish fifth.
But what happened when the CRS visited the temple of speed?
Race Analysis
Strategy corner
Monza is all about speed, in particular during qualifying, where they tuck in behind another car to gain some extra speed on the start-finish straight.
Miraculously, qualifying passed incident-free, meaning there were no grid penalties for the race, where most of the drivers opted for fuel only.
De Vos books his place in the title fight
After being on the wrong end of a stewards decision in Fuji, Monza saw luck finally arrive on de Vos' side as a Bozga penalty, gave him an unexpected maiden win.
Following a fairly anonymous Spa weekend, Monza was a return to form for de Vos, and he helped his cause by qualifying fourth for the race. De Vos then inherited third early on after Gregory Hovesen yielded second for straightlining the Rettifilo chicane at the start.
From there, de Vos and Pedersen fought hard for second, with the pair trading the position lap after lap until the Belgian retook the place on lap 17. De Vos never looked back as he claimed runners-up honours on the road.
Out-and-out agony for Bozga
Just as it seemed Bozga had ended his hideous run of bad luck in the best way possible, the stewards handed another sickening punch to the stomach for the cursed Belgian.
After two successive opening lap exits at Daytona and Spa, Bozga was out for redemption, and he got his weekend off to a dream start with pole position. Bozga immediately covered off his rivals at the start and put the hammer down, stringing out a huge lead which allowed him to retain the lead after the pitstop window.
But it was a moment in the pitstop window that proved costly. The stewards deemed Bozga to have committed a pitlane infringement, resulting in a one-place penalty and costing him a dominant victory.
One step closer to the title for Pedersen with solid third
While a third CRS victory will have to wait, Pedersen's grip on the championship tightened at Monza with another trip to the rostrum.
The Ford Mustangs were no longer the dominant car by the time the series reached Monza, but that didn't stop Pedersen from qualifying fourth, which became third by the end of lap 1.
With Bozga quickly pulling clear out front, Pedersen's race was with de Vos and the pair duelled for second lap after lap until a slowdown penalty late on curtailed the Dane's momentum. The pace of the Porsche proved too strong for Pedersen, but 29 points, four of which were for setting the fastest lap, helped him extend his lead in the standings.
High four for Erdelyi
Few could have predicted Erdelyi would be the driver to finish in the same position at every round of the CRS season, but at Monza, the run of fourth-place finishes continued.
Unlike at Spa, where he was able to keep up with the front runners, Erdelyi had a fairly quiet weekend, qualifying fifth before moving up to fourth early on at the expense of Hovesen.
But with the top three setting a blistering pace, Erdelyi had a lonely race to fourth, prolonging his wait for a podium goes on.
Kos goes on a charge
Cracking the top five for the first time was Kos, who used his vast experience and coolness to charge from the back.
Kos gave himself plenty to do in the race after qualifying a disappointing 13th, but the German quickly made up progress, jumping to 11th on the opening lap. While carnage was happening in front of him, Kos continued to make his way through the field, and by lap 4, he was up to seventh.
Pitting with the baulk of the field on lap 15 allowed Kos to jump into the top five, where he stayed until the chequered flag, sealing his best result of the season.
Woodrow returns to the top six
Rounding off the top six was Woodrow, who continued to impress despite his limited experience of the GT3 cars.
Woodrow hadn't enjoyed a good weekend at Spa, having only finished 10th after an eventful race, but the American was in much better shape at Monza, qualifying seventh.
Despite dropping a position at the start, Woodrow remained in touch with the top six until making his solitary pitstop on lap 12. While the early stop didn't quite have the desired effect, he put Andrea Pagnini under pressure, and after the Italian made a mistake, the American moved up to seventh at the flag.
Chase for the crown
With Sao Paulo looming over the horizon, Pedersen holds a 20-point lead over Erdelyi, meaning he must outscore the Hungarian by 12 points to claim the crown.
For de Vos, he needs plenty to go away to snatch the crown. With a 26-point gap to Pedersen, de Vos must win, set the fastest lap in Brazil, and hope his two rivals failed to trouble the top 10 to pull off a major comeback.
Driver Quotes
"Not the best qualifying after how we were looking in practice. Just unable to get a good draft lane after trying to go solo for too long. Tried to play the race smart since Monza is always a mega drafting race but unfortunately overfueled the car a lap during pitstops. Likely costed me the top 5-6 result. Lost track of how much race was left and attacked too early which started some battles that caused the train to break up and lose me spots. Could have gone way better but some mistakes on my part ruined it. Also after pitstops some drivers decided to defend instead of trying to work together to keep in the draft."
"Lacked a couple of tenths compared to the other guys driving the Mustang.Didn't really find a proper rythm on this track but at least the race was clean with little to no incidents so im trying to take that as a positive moving onto Sao Paolo."
"I knew I had the fastest car so i just had to drive my best to make pole and win."
Paddock Pass
Hovesen's race from hell
For one of CRS' quickest drivers, Monza was the end of Hovesen's title dreams after a horrible race packed full of incidents. Still reeling from losing victory at Spa, Hovesen needed to get maximum points from Italy to keep himself in the championship race.
But any chance of picking up good points went out the window at the start , as a nudge from de Vos forced him to straightline the Rettifilo, damaging the rear end of the Mustang. Worse was to follow at the start of lap 2 as Hovesen and Dani Neo collided at the Rettifilo, sending both into the gravel and out of the top 10.
There was more trouble for Hovesen on lap 6 as he and Konrad Kula exchanged paint on the start-finish straight before the Pole became the latest visitor to the Rettifilo gravel trap. Despite recovering to sixth on the road, Hovesen was handed two penalties for his on-track incidents, which dropped him to ninth in the final classification and out of the chase for the crown.
Home heroes struggle
For the local heroes, Monza was a mixed weekend as they failed to make a significant impact on the race.
Pagnini ended his dreadful run of form by returning to the top 10 for the first time since Fuji with a solid drive to eighth on the road and seventh in the final order.
As for Federico Alberti, his wait for a first series top 10 goes on as he could only manage 12th at the flag.