WRT Audi team takes one-two in World GT1 opener at Nogaro
The WRT Audi team secured a one-two finish in the first race of the GT1 World Championship season at Nogaro
Tomas Enge had rapidly battled through to the lead of the event's damp qualification race for Reiter Lamborghini in the opening stint, but his relatively inexperienced team-mate Albert von Thurn und Taxis was always going to face a tough task to hold his pursuers back when he took over for the run to the flag.
Sure enough, he was hunted down by Stephane Ortelli in the Audi he shares with Laurens Vanthoor, with the WRT driver overtaking von Thurn und Taxis and then edging clear.
The second Audi of Frank Stippler and Oliver Jarvis also made it through, giving WRT a front-row sweep for Monday's championship race. But von Thurn und Taxis held his own well - sticking with Stippler and resisting pressure from the Gregoire Demoustier/Alvaro Parente Hexis McLaren to retain the final spot on the podium.
The polesitting AF Corse Ferrari fell back in Filip Salaquarda's hands in the first stint, meaning Toni Vilander had to settle for beating the two Munnich Mercedes to fifth.
Results - 35 laps: Pos Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Ortelli/Vanthoor WRT Audi 1h00m26.351s 2. Stippler/Jarvis WRT Audi + 6.030s 3. von Thurn und Taxis/Enge Reiter Lamborghini + 6.914s 4. Demoustier/Parente Hexis McLaren + 7.164s 5. Vilander/Salaquarda AF Corse Ferrari + 31.293s 6. Basseng/Winkelhock Munnich Mercedes + 33.785s 7. Pastorelli/Jager Munnich Mercedes + 34.414s 8. O'Young/Kox Reiter Lamborghini + 47.177s 9. Parisy/Halliday Exim Porsche + 48.622s 10. Ide/Castellacci AF Corse Ferrari + 49.997s 11. Buurman/Bartels Vita4One BMW + 57.791s 12. Mayr-Melnhof/Lauda Vita4One BMW + 1m02.466s 13. Zuber/Afanasyev Valmon Aston + 1 lap 14. Lariche/Wei Exim Porsche + 1 lap 15. Pavlovic/Cressoni Sunred Ford + 2 laps 16. Martin/Vasiliev Valmon Aston + 2 laps
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