Algarve Blancpain Sprint: Track limit penalty costs WRT Audi second
Laurens Vanthoor and Cesar Ramos have been demoted to eighth in Sunday's main Blancpain Sprint Series race at Algarve after being deemed to have exceeded the track limits
The WRT Audi duo made a strong comeback through the field after Ramos dropped from fourth to eighth in the opening phase of the race, before Vanthoor took over and and rapidly closed the gap to the leaders.
The Belgian driver began harrying second-placed Jerome Bleekemolen in the Grasser Lamborghini and eventually overtook him on the penultimate lap.
That provoked an angry reaction from Bleekemolen, who argued that Vanthoor had not respected the track limits on the corner leading up to the pass.
The incident was investigated post-race and Vanthoor was deemed to have gained an unfair advantage, resulting in a 30-second time penalty and dropping the WRT Audi pair to eighth.
Bleekemolen and team-mate Hari Proczyk - who won Saturday's qualifying race - now go away with second under their belts, while Fabian Hamprecht and Stephane Ortelli move up to third.
Max Gotz and Max Buhk took a dominant victory for HTP Mercedes.
Revised results - 33 laps:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | M.Buhk, M.Gotz | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1h00m19.617s |
| 2 | H.Proczyk, J.Bleekemolen | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 11.576s |
| 3 | F.Hamprecht, S.Ortelli | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 23.435s |
| 4 | R.Rusinov, T.Enge | G-Drive Racing | Lamborghini | 23.753s |
| 5 | E.Ide, R.Rast | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 26.407s |
| 6 | N.M.-Melnhof, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 30.600s |
| 7 | A.Latif, M.Basseng | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 39.331s |
| 8 | C.Ramos, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 40.332s |
| 9 | Alessandro Zanardi | ROAL Motorsport | BMW | 40.788s |
| 10 | F.Onidi, G.Pantano | Bhaitech | McLaren | 43.264s |
| 11 | S.Afanasiev, S.Dusseldorp | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 44.126s |
| 12 | S.Pentus, C.van der Drift | Bhaitech | McLaren | 45.651s |
| 13 | T.Jager, D.Baumann | BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert | BMW | 57.410s |
| 14 | C.Bueno, S.Jimenez | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 1m02.213s |
| 15 | D.Fumanelli, S.Colombo | ROAL Motorsport | BMW | 1m05.421s |
| 16 | M.Stumpf, N.Piquet Jr. | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 1m35.765s |
| 17 | L.Wolf, L.Stolz | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
| 18 | P.Pinheiro, F.Mora | Sports & You | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
| 19 | S.Halek, S.Landmann | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
| 20 | A.Coimbra, L.Silva | Sports & You | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
| - | M.Lisowski, V.Abril | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
| - | M.Toril, A.Ebrahim | Fortec Motorsports | Mercedes | Retirement |
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