Nogaro Blancpain Series: Richelmi steers WRT Audi to qualifier win

The stakes were raised in Sunday morning's qualifying session when reigning Blancpain GT champion Laurens Vanthoor was ruled out of the season-opening weekend due to new team-mate Robin Frijns crashing their WRT Audi.

The single-seater convert and former Caterham Formula 1 test driver backed the Audi into the barriers in Q1 and did sufficient chassis damage to sideline himself and Vanthoors.

That removed a pre-race favourite, and a chaotic opening lap further narrowed the list of victory contenders.

The second-row-starting HTP Bentley of Maxi Buhk was tapped into a spin by Phoenix Audi driver Markus Winkelhock, causing a pile-up behind that also accounted for Jules Szymkowiak in the second Bentley and Craig Dolby's MRS Nissan.

The top three were clear of that incident and were handed a huge advantage, with Ortelli pulling away from Muller and the second WRT Audi of Frank Stippler.

Ortelli's lead was up to eight seconds by the pitstops, but a slower getaway by Richelmi combined with an early stop for the Brasil BMW and strong out-laps by Martin reduced that gap to just over a second.

A safety car with a quarter of an hour left, caused by Albert von Thurn and Taxis' Lamborghini ending up in the gravel following contact with Rob Bell's Attempto McLaren, brought Martin right onto Richelmi's tail.

The ex-GP2 driver kept it tidy around the tight circuit and resisted constant pressure from Martin, who was - along with Muller - on loan to Team Brasil from the BMW works line-up while many of its regular drivers were busy with a clashing Brazilian Stock Car race.

Bell and Estre's McLaren lost most of its front bodywork in the first-lap carnage but still made it through from 14th on the grid to third before slowing in the final laps.

With Stippler and team-mate James Nash delayed by a puncture, the remaining WRT Audi of Christopher Mies and Enzo Ide therefore completed the podium.

Mercedes legend Bernd Schneider carved through the field after GT Russian team-mate Alexey Karachev's low-key stint and came within a tenth of beating the Marco Seefried/Norbert Sielder Rinaldi Ferrari to fifth, winning the Pro-Am class in the process.

Formula Renault 3.5 convert team ISR's two Audis joined this battle in sixth and seventh, chased by the recovering Buhk/Vincent Abril Bentley and the second Brazil BMW.

Results - 39 laps:

Pos  Drivers                       Team/Car                 Time/Gap
 1.  Richelmi/Ortelli              WRT Audi             1h00m19.164s
 2.  Martin/Muller                 Brasil BMW                +0.552s
 3.  Mies/Ide                      WRT Audi                 +12.852s
 4.  Seefried/Siedler              Rinaldi Ferrari          +21.482s
 5.  Schneider/Karachev            GT Russian Mercedes      +21.598s
 6.  Bonanomi/Salaquarda           ISR Audi                 +22.482s
 7.  Fjordbach/Fjordbach           ISR Audi                 +23.611s
 8.  Abril/Buhk                    HTP Bentley              +24.081s
 9.  Sperafico/Sperafico           Brasil BMW               +24.663s
10.  Wagner/Ragginger              Fach Auto Porsche        +30.604s
11.  Nash/Stippler                 WRT Audi                 +53.876s
12.  Bell/Estre                    Attempto McLaren           -1 lap
13.  Wlazik/Mori                   Attempto McLaren           -1 lap
14.  Vasilyev/Bouchut              GT Russian Mercedes       -2 laps

Retirements:

     von Thurn und Taxis/Catsburg  Reiter Lamborghini        26 laps
     Walkinshaw/Dolby              MRS Nissan                  1 lap
     Mayr-Melnhof/Winkelhock       Phoenix Audi               0 laps
     Lombard/Szymkowiak            HTP Bentley                0 laps
     Frijns/Vanthoor               WRT Audi                      DNS