Maro Engel and Lucas Auer were on target to take a priceless victory in Race 2 of the GT World Challenge Europe, keeping the PRO Class battle in the Sprint Cup wide open.
At Magny-Cours, chaos immediately ensued at the start, unleashed by Konsta Lappalainen, who, despite having lost his apex at the first corner, tried to resist being passed on the outside by Max Hofer, ending up hitting the #6 Audi and spinning with it.
In the chaos, Ivan Klymenko swerved to his left, ending up with his wheels in the grass and at the next ‘Estoril’ bend he lost control of his #26 Audi with which he was leading in the SILVER CUP, spinning and crashing into the barriers.
The Safety Car was on track for eight laps, while the Saintéloc driver’s R8 was removed, while Lappalainen brought the battered #14 Ferrari back to the Emil Frey Racing pits after repairs, and Hofer rejoined the track in 27th place.
#9 Boutsen VDS, Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO: Jules Gounon, Maximillian Gotz
Photo by: SRO
Jules Gounon held on to the lead very well, taking advantage of the Pole Position, followed by Tom Gamble in the McLaren who behind began to feel the pressure of Engel and Charles Weerts with their respective Mercedes and BMW.
Meanwhile, there were some great duels for the Top 5 with Thierry Vermeulen putting his Ferrari ahead of Lorenzo Ferrari’s Audi on lap 9, while Gilles Magnus brought his Audi to seventh place, overtaking Eliseo Donno’s Ferrari.
On lap 14 the pit stop frenzy began and Boutsen VDS sent the #9 Mercedes back out on track with Maximilian Götz taking over from Gounon, hotly pursued by fellow brand driver Auer who took over Winward’s #48 AMG from Engel, and the #32 WRT BMW handed over from Weerts to Dries Vanthoor, while Benjamin Goethe slipped to fifth in the #159 McLaren after being passed by Lorenzo Patrese’s Audi.
Between laps 19 and 21, the race was decided with a thousand emotions: Auer attacked Götz forcefully at the ‘Adelaide’ hairpin and the two continued side by side for several meters, even exchanging a few wheel spins. Vanthoor tried to take advantage of this, but then wisely preferred to wait his turn.
#32 Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3: Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts
Photo by: SRO
Götz gave up, leaving the lead to Auer, so Vanthoor made his move on lap 21 – again at the hairpin – taking second place and trying to chase down Auer, who however made no mistakes and ultimately triumphed by 0.5 seconds ahead of the red M4.
Götz settled for an excellent third place together with Gounon, the #88 Audi of Ferrari/Patrese (Tresor Attempto Racing) crossed the finish line fourth and still winner in the GOLD CUP class, doing the double after Race 1 and deserving real applause.
Top 5 for the #159 McLaren of Garage 59 of the Gamble/Goethe duo, closely followed by the Audis of Feller/Aka (#99 Tresor Attempto Racing) and Legeret/Gachet (#111 CSA Racing), the latter second in the GOLD CUP class.
The best Ferrari in the end was the #69 of Emil Frey Racing that Altoè/Vermeulen took to the finish line in eighth place, with the #71 296 of Fleming/Donno behind giving AF Corse the win in the SILVER CUP class.
The Audi #84 of Haase/Reicher (Eastalent Racing) also climbs into the overall Top 10, ahead of the #25 of Evrard/Magnus (Saintéloc Racing) which completes the GOLD podium.
#88 Tresor Attempto Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Lorenzo Patrese, Lorenzo Ferrari
Photo by: SRO
Behind the R8 is the #10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes driven by Panis/Gazeau, second in the SILVER CUP, with third place going to the #30 WRT BMW driven by De Haan/Williams.
There was no shortage of penalties and the 10″ added to the #96 Porsche of Rutronik Racing for overtaking under the Safety Car meant that Muller/Niederhauser, who started from the back, lost a good 11th place in their comeback.
The same mistake cost the #78 Lamborghini of Mitchell/Collard (Barwell Motorsport) dearly, engaged for a long time in the fierce battle for the podium in the BRONZE CUP Class. While the Huracan slipped back a lot, the triumph was celebrated by Marschall/Blattner with the #97 Porsche of Rutronik Racing, ahead of the #188 McLaren of Prette/Ramos (Garage 59) and the #911 BMW of Leung/Harper (Century Motorsport) at the end of splendid duels that enlivened the final laps.
A day to forget for Comtoyou Racing: Mattia Drudi reported gearbox problems on his #7 Aston Martin at the start, while the #12 and #21 Vantages did not take part in the race after the accident that knocked them out in Qualifying this morning.
#71 AF Corse, Ferrari 296 GT3: Eliseo Donno, Thomas Fleming
Photo by: SRO
Pos
#
Classe
piloti
Team
auto
giri
distacco
1
48
Pro Cup
Lucas Auer, Maro Engel
Winward Racing Team MANN-FILTER
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
35
2
32
Pro Cup
Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts
Team WRT
BMW M4 GT3
35
0.563
3
9
Pro Cup
Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon
Boutsen VDS
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
35
10.626
4
88
Gold Cup
Lorenzo Patrese, Lorenzo Ferrari
Tresor Attempto Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
13.364
5
159
Pro Cup
Benjamin Goethe, Tom Gamble
Garage 59
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO
35
14.142
6
99
Pro Cup
Ricardo Feller, Alex Aka
Tresor Attempto Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
15.521
7
111
Gold Cup
Lucas Legeret, Simon Gachet
CSA Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
21.058
8
69
Pro Cup
Giacomo Altoe, Thierry Vermeulen
Emil Frey Racing
Ferrari 296 GT3
35
26.029
9
71
Silver Cup
Thomas Fleming, Eliseo Donno
AF Corse
Ferrari 296 GT3
35
28.250
10
84
Pro Cup
Christopher Haase, Simon Reicher
Eastalent Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
29.617
11
25
Gold Cup
Paul Evrard, Gilles Magnus
Sainteloc Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
34.350
12
10
Silver Cup
Aurelien Panis, Cesar Gazeau
Boutsen VDS
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
35
40.150
13
14
Pro Cup
Ben Green, Konsta Lappalainen
Emil Frey Racing
Ferrari 296 GT3
35
40.443
14
96
Pro Cup
Sven Müller, Patric Niederhauser
Rutronik Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
35
41.623
15
30
Silver Cup
Calan Williams, Sam de Haan
Team WRT
BMW M4 GT3
35
42.734
16
11
Gold Cup
Sebastian Øgaard, James Jakes
Comtoyou Racing
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO
35
46.327
17
97
Bronze Cup
Dennis Marschall, Dustin Blattner
Rutronik Racing
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
35
46.744
18
90
Silver Cup
Ezequiel Perez Companc, Tom Kalender
Madpanda Motorsport
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
35
52.140
19
6
Gold Cup
Luca Engstler, Max Hofer
LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler by OneGroup
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
52.692
20
188
Bronze Cup
Louis Prette, Miguel Ramos
Garage 59
McLaren 720S GT3 EVO
35
53.260
21
991
Bronze Cup
Daniel Harper, Darren Leung
Century Motorsport
BMW M4 GT3
35
54.165
22
44
Bronze Cup
Steven Palette, Stephane Denoual
Schumacher CLRT
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
35
54.797
23
93
Bronze Cup
Eddie Cheever, Jonathan Hui
SKY Tempesta Racing
Ferrari 296 GT3
35
58.380
24
66
Bronze Cup
Dylan Pereira, Andrey Mukovoz
Tresor Attempto Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
35
58.728
25
72
Bronze Cup
Patrick Kujala, Gabriel Rindone
Barwell Motorsport
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2
35
1:00.732
26
78
Bronze Cup
Sandy Mitchell, Rob Collard
Barwell Motorsport
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2
35
1:03.676
27
85
Bronze Cup
Ugo De Wilde, Dmitry Gvazava
Imperiale Racing
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2
35
1:06.527
28
52
Silver Cup
Sean Hudspeth, Jef Machiels
AF Corse
Ferrari 296 GT3
35
1:08.529
NC
26
Silver Cup
Marcus Paverud, Ivan Klymenko
Sainteloc Racing
Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II
DNS
7
Pro Cup
Nicolas Baert, Mattia Drudi
Comtoyou Racing
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO
DNS
12
Silver Cup
Lorens Lecertua, Dante Rappange
Comtoyou Racing
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO
DNS
21
Gold Cup
David Pittard, Matisse Lismont
Comtoyou Racing
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO