Weekend Recap: GTWC Europe Season Opener at Imola & More
Catch up on a busy weekend from Imola as SRO Motorsports Group kicks off its 2022 seasons...
WRT Delivers Audi’s First Endurance Cup Win in Two Years
Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts won the opening round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season at Imola to secure a first series victory in two years for both Audi and Team WRT.
The No. 32 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II won Sunday’s three-hour contest from pole position, however it required an undercut strategy at the first pit stop to return WRT to the lead after Weerts dropped to second during the opening stint.
Jules Gounon, Daniel Juncadella and Raffaele Marciello finished 6.2 seconds behind for Mercedes-AMG Team Akkodis ASP, while Mercedes-AMG Team GetSpeed completed the podium after Luca Stolz held off Mattia Drudi’s Tresor by Car Collection Audi.
The WRT Audi crew involving nine-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing world champion Valentino Rossi finished 17th in the first race of a 10-round program for the Italian, who had a solid middle stint but lost time when he effectively gave himself a drive-through by missing his pit box in a crowded pit lane when he was due to come in.
Weerts made a strong start from pole and held off Sainteloc Junior Team Audi driver Christopher Mies in the early laps, which included one of four Full Course Yellows after a JP Motorsport McLaren and the Iron Dames Ferrari collided at Rivazza.
Read the Full Report on Sportscar365
Double Win for Spinelli, Weering in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Season-Opener
Loris Spinelli and Max Weering won both legs of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe curtain-raiser at Imola, which marked the debut of the updated Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 model.
The Bonaldi Motorsport duo took an early lead in the Pro standings by sweeping the pair of 50-minute races and taking pole for the opening encounter.
Spinelli established a lead of around 12 seconds at the end of the first stint in Race 1, as Pro-Am competitor Emanuele Zonzini rose from fourth on the grid to second with overtakes on Lewis Williamson and Milan Teekens.
A smooth pit stop saw Bonaldi maintain its advantage through Weering, while behind there was a change for second as Marzio Moretti, in for Teekens, slipped past Zonzini’s Am co-driver Emanuel Colombini at Tosa.
Moretti was looking like a contender but with 10 minutes remaining a tire issue pitched his Target Racing car into the Tamburello gravel, bringing out a safety car.
Despite the field bunching up, Weering extended the gap to just under 18 seconds in the remaining green flag time, while Jean-Luc D’Auria claimed the vacant second place.
Read the Full Report in Sportscar365’s Weekly Racing Roundup
Imola GT4 European Series Sweep for Racing Spirit of Leman
Gus Bowers and Konstantin Lachenauer staked an early claim to being GT4 European Series title contenders by winning both of the 60-minute races held at Imola.
The drivers of the Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT4 came away with a 15-point lead at the head of the Silver Cup standings after a strong weekend.
Victory in the opener came after Bowers made a well-timed overtake on Andreas Mayrl just before a Full Course Yellow period terminally neutralized the race.
Mayrl’s Allied-Racing Porsche co-driver, Vincent Andronaco, was impressive in the opening stint as he held off Jim Pla through a safety car-impacted stint.
Lachenauer started fifth and worked his way past Pierre-Louis Chovet and Simon Gachet before the first-stint FCY, caused by an AGS Aston Martin stopping on track and extended by an accident involving two competitors under the safety car.
The Racing Spirit of Leman Aston then emerged ahead of Pla’s Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT4 after the pit stops, enabling Bowers to chase down Mayrl for the win.
Read the Full Report in Sportscar365’s Weekly Racing Roundup
Second GT2 European Season Kicks Off
Different Audi R8 LMS GT2s won the two races at Imola that launched the second season of the Fanatec GT2 European Series.
Am competitor Henry Hassid took an outright victory in the opener for LP Racing, before Stienes Longin and Nicolas Saelens combined to win Race 2 for PK Carsport.
Hassid, a former European Le Mans Series competitor, was running third in the opening stint of Race 1 but applied some strong individual lap times during the pit window to bring himself closer to the top two.
The Frenchman shot past Michael Doppelmayr as the early race-leading Audi driver exited the pits, before overtaking Gianluca Giorgi’s Ebimotors Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport for the win with seven minutes to go.
Longin and Saelens prevailed in the second 50-minute race from pole, bouncing back from a retirement on Saturday.
Read the Full Report in Sportscar365’s Weekly Racing Roundup
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