GTWCE – Lamborghini refuels at the Nürburgring

The 3 Hours of the Nürburgring, eighth round of the GT World Challenge Europe season, took place this Sunday after the victory of Mikel Azcona (Cupra) in TCR Europe on the German circuit. The Italian trio Andrea Caldarelli, Mirko Bortolotti and Marco Mapelli (Lamborghini) from the Orange 1 FFF Racing Team team left in pole position for the third time this year. Starting at the start, Marco Mapelli managed to keep first place at the first corner, while the fight took place further back in the peloton between the Audi number 32 and the BMW number 34. The lead of the race was largely decided during pit stops and Mercedes number 88 of the AKKA ASP team, with the trio Raffaele Marciello, Felipe Fraga and Jules Gounon, lost big in traffic on the #63 Lamborghini Huracan which regained its place at the top of the ranking. Caldarelli continued to increase his crew's lead. 

As for the Pro-Am category, the fight raged for the lead of the race between the Ferrari number 93 and the number 20 Mercedes. In the Silver Cup, the number 44 Lamborghini was sent spinning by the number 7 Mercedes, which suffered a ten-second penalty, in the fight for second place. At the wheel of the number 33 Ferrari, Benjamin Hites suffered a rear-left puncture after a risky overtaking attempt on the number 40 Mercedes. The race was lively with five cars battling it out on the pit straight. The day looked set to be successful for Lamborghini, as the #3 and 16 Huracan GT19 Evos led these two categories less than an hour from the checkered flag.

The Safety Car entered the track 40 minutes from the end to evacuate the #10 BMW from the Boutsen Ginion team, which was immobilized on the track. The race did not resume for long with the exit of the track of Antonio Fuoco (Iron Lynx #71) in the S Schumacher and Porsche GPX #22 which stopped at the side of the track, triggering a Full Course Yellow and a new Safety Car. The time interval between the two neutralizations was nevertheless sufficient to allow the Emil Frey Racing #14 team to take the lead in the Silver Cup, still with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Upon arrival, Lamborghini took the lead in all three categories. In Pro with Orange 1 FFF Racing Team #63 (Caldarelli – Bortolotti – Mapelli), in Pro Am, with another Orange 1 FFF Racing Team, #19 (Keen – Constantini – Hamagushi), and in Silver Cup with Emil Frey Racing #14 (Fontana – Ineichen – Feller).