WRT Audi resists HTP Mercedes for Misano Blancpain GT Sprint win
WRT Audi drivers Laurens Vanthoor and Frederic Vervisch claimed victory in the main event at the opening round of the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup at Misano
Vervisch moved his Audi R8 LMS into the lead of the full-points race approaching one-third distance and had a lead of nearly two seconds when the pitstop window opened.
A quick turnaround by the WRT crew gave Vanthoor an advantage of nearly six seconds, but the Belgian's lead was slowly eroded by the HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 driven by Maximilian Buhk.
Buhk, who shared the car with Dominik Baumann, ended up just 1.6s behind at the end of the one-hour race.
Vanthoor said: "Maxi was quick in his stint: it was not easy to fight and he was getting closer."
Vervisch added: "We weren't the quickest today, but everything fell into place and WRT had a great pitstop."
Third place went to the Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3 shared by Philipp Eng and Alexander Sims, which ended up more than 20s in arrears.
Eng had led from the first corner before losing out to Vervisch and Baumann on the same lap.
Sims subsequently lost third to Felix Rosenqvist's ASP Mercedes, but retook the final podium position when the Swede retired in the closing stages.
Rob Bell and Alvaro Parente took fourth place in the best of the Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3s ahead of the ISR Audi of Frank Stippler and Filip Salaquarda.
Sixth place went to the Rinaldi Ferrari 458 Italia of Norbert Siedler and Marco Seefried.
The M-Sport Bentley that had won Saturday's qualifying race spun on the opening lap after receiving a tap from Dries Vanthoor's WRT Audi.
Maxime Soulet dropped to the back of the field, but he and Andy Soucek were able to work their way back to an eventual 11th-place finishing position.
Victory in the pro-am class went to the Kessel Ferrari 488 GT3 of Giacomo Piccini and Michal Broniszewski, while Silver Cup honours were taken by Phoenix Audi drivers Markus Pommer and Nicolaj Moller Madsen.
RESULTS - 38 LAPS
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | F.Vervisch, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1h00m50.289s |
2 | D.Baumann, M.Buhk | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1.626s |
3 | P.Eng, A.Sims | Rowe Racing | BMW | 23.374s |
4 | R.Bell, A.Parente | Garage 59 | McLaren | 30.611s |
5 | F.Stippler, F.Salaquarda | ISR | Audi | 39.485s |
6 | M.Seefried, N.Siedler | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 52.368s |
7 | J.Szymkowiak, B.Schneider | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 52.693s |
8 | E.Ide, C.Mies | Team WRT | Audi | 53.542s |
9 | R.Giammaria, E.P.Companc | AF Corse | Ferrari | 55.019s |
10 | D.Zampieri, P.Niederhauser | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 59.721s |
11 | M.Soulet, A.Soucek | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 1m00.857s |
12 | M.Bortolotti, N.Pohler | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1m12.994s |
13 | M.Broniszewski, G.Piccini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 1m14.789s |
14 | M.Takaboshi, A.Buncombe | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1m18.586s |
15 | N.M.Madsen, M.Pommer | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 1m19.059s |
16 | R.Monti, E.Sandstrom | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | 1m19.495s |
17 | V.Abril, S.Kane | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 1m19.897s |
18 | S.Leonard, M.Meadows | Team WRT | Audi | 1m20.283s |
19 | C.Schmid, J.Jaafar | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1m23.368s |
20 | M.van Splunteren, J.Mul | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 1m25.386s |
21 | R.Baptista, F.Albuquerque | Team WRT | Audi | 1m26.735s |
22 | D.Vanthoor, R.Frijns | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1 Lap |
23 | L.Stolz, M.Beretta | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
24 | J-L.Beaubelique, M.M.Traffort | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
25 | M.Henkola, M.Martin | Boutsen Ginion Racing | BMW | 1 Lap |
26 | M.Plowman, C.Dolby | Garage 59 | McLaren | 1 Lap |
27 | N.M.-Melnhof, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 1 Lap |
28 | R.Sanchez, S.Walkinshaw | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1 Lap |
29 | S.Dusseldorp, N.Catsburg | Rowe Racing | BMW | 1 Lap |
30 | C.Sdanewitsch, S.Lemeret | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
31 | D.Gonzales, S.Asch | Team a-workx | Porsche | 1 Lap |
32 | T.Vautier, F.Rosenqvist | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 2 Laps |
33 | L.Jenny, C.Leimer | X-Technology | Lamborghini | 2 Laps |
34 | C.Hook, S.Parrow | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
35 | M.Stockinger, F.Perera | ISR | Audi | 5 Laps |
36 | W.Stevens, R.Rast | Team WRT | Audi | 16 Laps |
37 | J.Bleekemolen, S.Rosina | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 24 Laps |
- | D.Valsecchi, J.Falla | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | Not started |
- | M.Parisy, C.Haase | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | Retirement |
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