Baku Blancpain GT: WRT Audi wins qualifying race, Gotz seals Sprint title

WRT Audi drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Cesar Ramos won the Baku World Challenge qualifying race, while a points-free ninth place was enough for Mercedes driver Maximilian Gotz to clinch the Blancpain Sprint Series championship.

Andy Soucek and Jonathan Adam finished 1.7s behind in the Beechdean Aston Martin, with Vanthoor's WRT team-mates Stephane Ortelli and Stephane Richelmi following in third. Rene Rast charged into fourth place at the flag from outside the top 10 in the third WRT R8, which he shared with Enzo Ide.

Vanthoor's victory puts him just 15 points behind Maximilian Buhk in the overall Blancpain GT championship with the main race still to run, while Gotz's Sprint Series title rivals Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk were in contention until the final moments before damage to their Lamborghini forced them to pit.

It was Stephane Ortelli in the sister WRT Audi R8 who led from pole position with Vanthoor in pursuit before the race was neutralised on the first lap.

Dominik Baumann's BMW Z4 hit the wall at turn four and Matheus Stumpf's similar car was tapped in to a spin at turn six, blocking the circuit and bringing out the safety car.

Baumann, starting from the rear of the grid after a technical infringement in qualifying, was pinched for space at turn four and cut the corner, then became collateral in a collision between HTP's Stef Dusseldorp and Triple Eight's Joe Osborne.

"I got hit from behind," said Dusseldorp. "Everyone was slow in corner four. I don't know, maybe some people thought they were on a qualifying lap. Then I was hit in the front by the BMW."

Soucek had a superb opening stint in the Aston Martin, rising from sixth on the grid to fourth and pressuring Bleekemolen for third as the Lamborghini suffered a repeat of the intermittent ABS problems it encountered in qualifying.

But Bleekemolen was able to stay in touch with the frontrunners, and swift pitwork from the Grasser Racing squad put the Lamborghini out in the lead after Hari Proczyk took over on lap 16. His tenure at the front was brief, though, as Cesar Ramos - who had taken over the #1 Audi from Vanthoor - overtook at the first hairpin a lap later.

Ortelli got caught in traffic before his pitstop, and when Richelmi took over the #9 Audi he emerged in fourth place, having been leapfrogged by Proczyk in the pitlane.

In the second half of the race the Lamborghini's front bodywork began to work loose, and Proczyk fell behind Adam and Richelmi.

With Gotz circulating outside the points after team-mate Maximilian Buhk glanced the wall and damaged their SLS, fourth place would have been enough for Proczyk and Bleekemolen to stay in title. But the stewards then called the Lamborghini in to the pits so that the loose bodywork could be secured.

"This track is aggressive with cars," said Bleekemolen, "and ours is maybe not as strong as some of the others. When I got out I had a vibration, then parts started to come off. But you have to use the kerbs aggressively here."

With a substantial cash prize on offer this weekend, Vanthoor affirmed his determination to seal the overall Blancpain GT series with victory in the main race.

"We're going to win this one, too," he said.