Weekend Recap: SunEnergy1 Wins Big in Bathurst; Action from Mid-Ohio, Magny-Cours, Imola & More
Catch up on a jam-packed weekend of sports car racing from around the globe...
SunEnergy1 Wins Bathurst 12H in Mercedes-AMG Sweep
Jules Gounon, Luca Stolz, Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad won the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for SunEnergy1 Racing to lead a 1-2-3 result for Mercedes-AMG entries.
Gounon brought the No. 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to the line 8.7 seconds ahead of Maro Engel in the No. 91 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG that also featured Daniel Juncadella and Kevin Tse.
The all-Mercedes podium was completed by the Triple Eight Race Engineering crew of Shane van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney and Prince Jefri Ibrahim, one minute and 35 seconds behind the winner.
The opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season was a battle between teams running Mercedes-AMG and Audi machinery after other manufacturers refrained from lending international support to the rescheduled event.
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WTR Continues Acura’s DPi Win Streak at Mid-Ohio
Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque maintained the Acura ARX-05’s undefeated run of wins at Mid-Ohio following a controlling race by the Wayne Taylor Racing pairing in Sunday’s Lexus Grand Prix.
Taylor took the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi to a 2.098-second win over the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing entry of Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis in another Acura 1-2 finish.
While Albuquerque took over the lead from pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais at the start, the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R bounced back to retake the position on Lap 9 and extend to nearly a six-second advantage.
CGR’s race, however, became unraveled following the race’s only full course caution when Renger van der Zande and Taylor made slight contact while battling for the lead, resulting in a spin by the Dutchman.
No further action was made by IMSA officials, which saw van der Zande drop to sixth, more than 20 seconds behind.
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Prema Wins 4H Imola ELMS Round in Late Stop Under Yellow
Prema has taken its second consecutive victory in the European Le Mans Series by winning the 4 Hours of Imola, bouncing back from multiple penalties thanks to late pitstop under yellow.
The No. 9 Oreca 07 Gibson, driven by Lorenzo Colombo, Ferdinand Habsburg and Louis Deletraz took an unlikely victory after the team was hit with three separate penalties, including two drive-throughs.
The Italian squad took the lead of the race on the opening lap when Colombo shot past pole-sitter Francois Perrodo into Turn 1.
Colombo was able to make a good getaway because the second half of the front row was empty with TDS Racing starting from pit lane, but race control judged Colombo not to have respected the start procedure by changing lanes before the line and was handed a first drive-through penalty.
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Marciello, Boguslavskiy Take Lights-to-Flag GTWC Europe Magny-Cours Win
Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy converted pole position to a dominant victory in the second Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup race of the weekend at Magny-Cours.
The No. 89 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which finished second in Saturday’s race, started Sunday afternoon’s one-hour contest from pole, with Marciello quick to open up an advantage during his stint in the first half of the race.
The Swiss driver then pitted to hand over to co-driver Boguslavskiy, who maintained the gap to the sister No. 88 Mercedes of Jim Pla and Maximilian Goetz and took the checkered flag with a gap of over ten seconds.
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Murillo’s Foss Holds Off Hidman for Mid-Ohio MPC Win
Eric Foss held off a hard-charging Trent Hindman while on a near-empty fuel tank to take victory in Saturday’s Mid-Ohio 120 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race.
Foss, in the No. 56 Murllo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4, crossed the line 0.699 seconds ahead of Hindman’s No. 7 VOLT Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 in the two-hour contest that looked set to come down to a fuel mileage race.
Foss was forced to conserve fuel during his stint after co-driver and pole-sitter Kenton Koch pitted one lap early due to a loose wheel.
He saw the gap from Hindman go from 13 seconds in the final half-hour down to less than one-second, although managed to stay out front to give he and Koch victory in the GS class.
Hindman and co-driver Alan Brynjolffson extended their points lead with the runner-up result.
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Phoenix Leads Audi Podium Sweep at 12H Hockenheim
Phoenix Racing took its second consecutive victory in the Hankook 24H Series by leading an Audi podium lockout in the Hankook 12H Hockenheim.
The No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, driven by Michael Doppelmayr, Pierre Kaffer, Elia Erhart and Swen Herberger, recovered from a one-lap deficit on Sunday to win ahead of Car Collection Motorsport and JUTA Racing.
Car Collection’s No. 34 Audi, piloted by Johannes Kirchhoff, Max Edelhoff and Elmar Grimm, started Sunday’s running from pole position after leading into the overnight intervention on Saturday.
However, the German squad lost the lead on the first lap when it was overtaken by the No. 85 CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Charles Putman, Charles Espenlaub and Joe Foster.