Brands Hatch – Race 1: The exploit of Ulysse de Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean

For this first race at Brand Hatch, it is the Ferrari white n°53 of AF Corse which started from the first position after the pole of Ulysse de Pauw the day before. The 20-year-old Belgian had to resist Jules Gounon (AKKODIS ASP Team) at the start and mischievously managed to delay his acceleration, while several cars were involved in an accident at the first corner, already triggering a Safety Car. Two Audis from Team WRT were forced to retire, the #30 of Benjamin Goethe and the #33 of Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer. All under the eyes of their teammate Valentino Rossi, who avoided an accident for his first GT start and found himself 14th after starting from 17th position. “Everything opened up in front of him, he did well”, commented Frédéric Vervisch in the garage of the No. 46. The race was restarted with precisely 46 minutes remaining.

Ulysse de Pauw fought hard at the head of the race and confirmed his level of performance displayed in qualifying. The pit stop window opened and Valentino Rossi quickly entered. Unlike the season opener at Imola, the Italian did not miss his spot and left his place to Vervisch. Ulysse de Pauw also stopped mid-race to be replaced at the wheel by his teammate Pierre-Alexandre Jean. Jules Gounon thus inherited the lead of the race and took advantage of it to string together his best personal laps.

The pit stop dragged on for the Mercedes with a lot of time wasted on the left back. Jim Pla emerged behind the #32 Team WRT of Dries Vanthoor and could do nothing against a Raffaele Marciello (AKKODIS ASP Team) unleashed on the track. Pierre-Alexandre Jean thus regained the lead of the race, but had to have references in the discipline behind him. Marciello caught up again at Vanthoor and the young French driver took the opportunity to increase his lead at the head of the race to win at the checkered flag despite a final wheel to wheel with his two pursuers. A feat for this young crew only classified in Silver. Especially since the Franco-Belgian duo discovered the Ferrari for the first time in competition this weekend after driving a Bentley during the 2021 financial year. 

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