Weekend Recap: GTWC Europe Champions Crowned; IMSA GT-Only Battle at VIR & More
Catch up on a busy weekend of sports car racing from around the globe...
AKKA-ASP Wins 3H Barcelona; Iron Lynx Drivers Clinch Title
Raffaele Marciello, Felipe Fraga and Jules Gounon won the 3 Hours of Barcelona for AKKA-ASP but could do nothing to prevent Iron Lynx Ferrari drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Come Ledogar from clinching the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup title.
Pier Guidi, Nielsen and Ledogar finished seventh in their No. 51 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, which was enough to secure the championship by four points from the drivers of the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG, which took its first Endurance victory of the year.
Pier Guidi successfully defended his Endurance Cup crown from last season, while Ledogar notched up his second title after winning in 2016. Nielsen is a first-time GTWC Europe champion.
Marciello and Gounon, who contested the first three races with Daniel Juncadella and the last two with Fraga, took second in the championship and ended up level on points with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts who finished third in the race alongside Robin Frijns.
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Milner, Tandy Take Third Straight GTLM Win in Virginia Battle
Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy scored their third consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class win in Saturday’s hard-fought Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway.
The two-hour and 40-minute GT-only contest saw all three GTLM machines take turns leading and trading paint, with the No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R coming out on top following a final-hour scrap.
A fuel-only stop while under the race’s only full-course caution saw the No. 3 Corvette of Antonio Garcia emerge as the leader after a pit stop miscue set the class championship-leading car back by more than 30 seconds.
The No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre, however, pushed his way into the lead with less than a hour to go, only to get shoved off track by Tandy moments later.
No further action was taken after IMSA officials reviewed the incidents.
Tandy made his final stop just as Estre went off-course at Oak Tree, cementing a Corvette Racing 1-2 finish in the penultimate round of the season.
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Goetz Wins Dramatic Finale to Seal DTM Title
With assistance from his fellow Mercedes-AMG drivers, Maximilian Goetz won the final round of the DTM season at the Noriring to clinch his maiden series championship.
The Haupt Racing Team driver won the opening bout of the weekend on Saturday before scoring another 25 points in Sunday’s decider to reach the top of the standings ahead of Liam Lawson and Kelvin van der Linde, who both encountered trouble in Race 2.
Lawson arrived as the favorite for the title after taking pole for the season-ending race.
However, the Red Bull AF Corse driver’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 sustained steering damage when a late-braking van der Linde made contact at the first hairpin turn.
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Heylen Closes GS Points Gap With VIR Win
Jan Heylen closed the gap in the GS points standings with his second consecutive IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge victory in Sunday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway.
Heylen got by the No. 23 Notlad by RS1 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Stevan McAleer with 12 minutes to go and never looked back, taking a 0.516-second win over McAleer, who stretched his fuel for a final 1 hour and 16-minute stint.
While having shared top honors at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Heylen shared driving duties on Sunday with Ryan Hardwick, who earned his first Pilot Challenge win.
Trent Hindman held off a hard-charging Bill Auberlen to finish third in the No. 7 VOLT Racing by Archangel Aston Martin ahead of points leader Auberlen, who climbed his way through the field after an off-sequence pit stop that initially put him outside of the top-ten.
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Priaulx Wins Sunday Race as van Berlo Crashes Out at VIR
Seb Priaulx extended his Pro class championship lead with victory in Sunday’s Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands race at Virginia International Raceway.
Priaulx held off a battle with Riley Dickinson for his fourth victory of the season in a race that saw title rival and Race 1 winner Kay van Berlo crash out at the start.
The Dutchman and the No. 9 JDX Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Parker Thompson had slight contact, which resulted in the Kelly-Moss Road & Race Porsche into the slippery grass and hard into the barriers.
Van Berlo was visibly upset at Thompson after climbing from his car, although race control deemed no further action on the incident.
The accident came at a significant setback in van Berlo’s title hunt, having entered Sunday’s race just 34 points behind Priaulx.
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Bathurst to Open 2022 IGTC Season
Ozarks Confirmed for SRO America
Nico Mueller Set for Audi LMDh Drive
KCMG Eyeing Expanded IMSA Season
Record 41 Entries for Indy 8H