Moscow Blancpain Sprint: Reiter Lamborghini wins qualifying race
Nicky Catsburg and Albert von Thurn und Taxis claimed victory for the Reiter Lamborghini squad in the first of Saturday's two Blancpain Sprint Series races at the Moscow Raceway
The duo dominated the qualifying race aboard their Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 R-EX, leading all but one lap during the mid-race pitstop sequence on the way to a 7.2-second victory over the Rinaldi Ferrari 458 Italia shared by Norbert Siedler and Marco Seefried.
Catsburg converted pole position into the lead of the race and had built up a lead of just over six seconds by the time the Ferrari pit.
Von Thurn und Taxis emerged after the pitstops with nearly nine seconds in hand over Seefried and was able to maintain that gap until the final handful of laps.
Third place went to the HTP Motorsport Bentley Continental GT3 driven by Maximilian Buhk and Vincent Abril.
Buhk jumped from eighth on the grid to fifth at the start and then took Markus Winkelhock's Phoenix Audi for fourth on the second lap.
The Bentley finished the opening stint right with Kevin Estre's Attempto McLaren 650S GT3, which dropped to sixth after a slow pitstop.
Caca Bueno claimed fourth in the closing stages in the BMW Team Brazil entry he shared with Sergio Jimenez, overtaking Enzo Ide in the WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra in which the Belgian partnered Christopher Mies.
Rob Bell was right with Ide at the finish in the McLaren he had taken over from Estre.
Markus Winkelhock, who drove the Phoenix Audi alone after team-mate Niki Mayr-Melnhof had to return home for family reasons, ended up 10th after a clash with Jules Szymkowiak's HTP Bentley in the opening stint and then a half spin late in the race.
The championship-leading WRT Audi of Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns failed to finish after the former sustained a puncture at the start.
The Belgian resumed after a slow lap back to the pits before retiring after a dozen laps.
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Moscow Blanpain Sprint: Abril and Buhk take victory for Bentley
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