AKKA-ASP wins race 2 at Misano

WRT can't always win. Victorious in the first two races of the season, the Belgian team was only able to achieve its third consecutive success on Sunday morning.

Timur Boguslavskiy felt it. The Russian associated with Raffaele Marciello allowed AKKA-ASP to win the second race of the weekend, not without suffering.

Starting on pole and calm for most of the race, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°88 was caught fifteen minutes from the end…. By WRT. The Japanese Ryuichiro Tomita in the No. 31 Audi, one of the surprises of the weekend, even went so far as to touch the rear of the Mercedes.

But Tomita also had pressure behind him from Luca Stolz in the Haupt Racing Mercedes. He ended up missing a corner and losing five places. The gap allowed Boguslavskiy to breathe and manage the end of the race.

Behind the scenes, AKKA-ASP had to grit its teeth. Since the start of the weekend, the Russian has been in difficulty, preventing the team from really playing the leading roles. This time he held.

Behind, another Mercedes takes second place in the hands of Stolz and Maro Engel.

The podium is completed by the Saintéloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo driven by Christpher Haase and Arthur Rougier. The Frenchman notably made a nice overtake on WRT driver Charles Weerts to take third place.

The Belgian team places its cars in fourth and seventh position. A good result, even if they could have hoped for better without Tomita's exit.

Others are more disappointed. We think of the Bentley of the CMR team. Nelson Panciatici, who started ninth, had moved up to meet his “friend” from the day before, Dries Vanthoor, for sixth place. But the Frenchman's daring attack did not work, he lost places. Vanthoor completely cut the chicane to avoid overtaking and, above all, to give himself some air. The maneuver could have cost him a penalty.

He escaped, unlike the Tech 3 Racing Lexus RCF GT1. Victim of an engine failure in race 1, Aurélien Panis left the pits on Sunday morning. On his way back up, he had a contentious contact with the No. 89 Mercedes of AKKA-ASP, which was going into the barriers. The maneuver cost a drive-through.

The two cars are the cursed ones of the weekend, since the Mercedes had already been harpooned in race 1.

In Silver, it was ultimately Steven Palette and Simon Gachet who won at the wheel of the Saintéloc Racing Audi. In Pro-Am, victory goes to the Ferrari AF Corse by Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini.