The Weerts-Vanthoor duo wins in Misano

Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor won the second race of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe at Misano at the wheel of their No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT2 Evo – Team WRT. This is the first success for Vincent Vosse's team in the SRO Motorsports Sprint Series in 2019.

The first relay had however seen the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°88 – AKKA-ASP of poleman Raffaele Marciello dominate unchallenged, ahead of the Audi n°2 entrusted in the first part of the event to Dries Vanthoor.

The Full Course Yellow and then the safety car are deployed after 22′ to remove debris from the track, just after an incident involving two of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo – Attempto Racing of Kelvin van der Linde and Nick Foster, the latter starting off- trajectory at the last turn.

Enough to annihilate the lead of more than 2″ built by Raffaele Marciello during this first stint over Dries Vanthoor. The race management then confirmed that the driver change window was pushed back by three minutes in order to restart the race and not cause a traffic jam in the stands.

At the restart, Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo no. 63 – GRT) or Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3 no. 4 – Black Falcon) immediately plunged into the pit lane while the leaders led by Marciello and Vanthoor continues their efforts.

GRT lost time changing a rear wheel, Christian Engelhart leaving around ten seconds in the process.

AKKA-ASP loses everything in the stands

Marco Mapelli (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo n°563 – FFF Racing) waits one more lap, while the leading duo Marciello – Vanthoor waits one more lap. The hierarchy is upset since AKKA-ASP loses everything during this stop, the n°88 dropping more than 35″ in the maneuver, the car clearly not being expected at this moment in the stands.

A setback for the French team, generally accustomed to precise stops, and which have partly been the strength of the Tarn team in recent times.

Charles Weerts, Dries Vanthoor's teammate, therefore regains control of the race ahead of Simon Gachet (Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo no. 25 – Saintéloc Racing) and Andrea Caldarelli (Lamborghini no. 563). The Italian, winner yesterday, passed the Frenchman less than 10′ from the finish and launched an attack on the leader.

But the Belgian will control until the end and offers himself a first career success in the Blancpain GT Series, less than 24 hours after making a mistake in race 1. The podium is completed by the Caldarelli – Mapelli pair and the Audi n°25 of Haase – Gachet.

Luca Stolz saved a good fourth place with the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT4 – Black Falcon ahead of the No. 8 – Phoenix Racing Audi R3 LMS GT11 Evo of Hutchison – Vervisch.

In the Silver Cup, Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer (Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°89 – AKKA-ASP) won after Bastian overtook Rik Breukers (Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo n°10 – Team WRT), finally 3rd. of the category behind theAston Martin Vantage n°62 – R-Motorsport by Vaino – by Sadeleer.

In Pro-Am, victory for the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n°555 – FFF Racing from Keen – Hamaguchi, when the Ferrari 488 GT3 n°444 – HB Racing de Scholze – Triller scores a double in the Am Cup.

Discover the full report of the Misano event in issue 2223 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.