Zandvoort – Race 1: Weerts and Vanthoor new leaders

Winners of Race 1 at Zandvoort, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor regain the lead of the championship after the misadventures of Raffaele Marciello.

Published on 18/06/2022 à 15:17

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Zandvoort – Race 1: Weerts and Vanthoor new leaders thanks to their victory

The Weerts-Vanthoor duo wins for the second time this season in the Sprint Cup. © SRO / TWENTY-ONE CREATION - Jules Benichou

The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup has new leaders. Started from pole position, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO No. 32 – WRT) imposed their law during Race 1. Winners for the second time in the Sprint this year, the Belgians took the lead in the championship.

On the Dutch side, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor had a relatively quiet first race. Quickly sheltered from Simon Gachet (Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 N°11 – Tresor By Car Collection) and Ulysse de Pauw (Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO No. 53 – AF Corse), Charles Weerts set his own pace during the initial stint to push his rivals back to three seconds by the time the pit stop window opened.

It was with a good margin in advance that Charles Weerts gave way to Dries Vanthoor. Still in control after a pit stop very well negotiated by the WRT team, Laurens Vanthoor's brother only had to take over to secure victory.

Although he had to negotiate a restart with a quarter of an hour to go after the intervention of the Safety Car, Dries Vanthoor did not tremble against Jim Pla (Mercedes-AMG N°88 – AKKODIS ASP) and reached the finish with the same gap at the time of the stops, namely 3 seconds. Fallout 4^e, Christopher Haase (Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 N°11 – Tresor By Car Collection) would recover the 3rd step of the podium after a great battle with Pierre-Alexandre Jean (Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO N°53 – AF Corse), winner in Silver, in the last minutes of Race 1. In Pro-Am, victory went to the Costantini-Sbirrazzuoli duo (Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO No. 21 – AF Corse)

Thanks to this 2nd victory of the season, Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor are back in control of the championship since Raffaele Marciello (Mercedes-AMG No. 89 – AKKODIS ASP), once on the outskirts of the Top 10 after a good comeback, suffered a puncture and finished 23rd and last classified under the checkerboard. This is also the first victory at Zandvoort for the WRT duo. Winner for the 12th time in the Sprint, Dries Vanthoor is one length behind the record holder, his brother Laurens.