First success for Aston Martin and R-Motorsport in GT World Challenge Europe

Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhöfer won Race 2 of the GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring. Simon Gachet paid tribute to Anthoine Hubert with the second place trophy.

Published on 01/09/2019 à 18:22

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First success for Aston Martin and R-Motorsport in GT World Challenge Europe

Arriving at the start of the 2019 season on the GT3 scene, theAston Martin Vantage had to wait until Sunday September 1 and Race 2 of the Blancpain GT World Challenge at the Nürburgring (Germany) to open its victory counter. The trophy came from the duo Ricky Collard and Marvin Kirchhöfer.

The crew of the R-Motorsport team was able to take advantage of the problems hitting the leading Audis during the second half of the event. A clash between Ezequiel Perez-Companc and Charles Weerts forced both Team WRT cars to retire. The Aston Martin didn't ask for that much!

The podium is completed by regulars Christopher Haase and Simon Gachet (Audi), already third the day before in Race 1. The Audi R8 LMS also bore on the side air intakes a photo of Simon Gachet and the late Anthoine Hubert with the inscription “My Tonio, I will miss you”. The two young men had known each other in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup in 2015.

Third place is occupied by the leaders of the general classification, Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli (Lamborghini). Aurelien Panis and Jack Hawksworth allow the Lexus RC-F to achieve its best result in GT World Challenge with fifth place.

In the championship, the Mapelli-Caldarelli duo maintains an eight-unit advantage over Stolz-Engel. Bortolotti-Engelhart are relegated to 25,5 points.

Find it in AUTO issue 2232hebdo, on sale Monday evening in digital version and Wednesday on newsstands, the summary of the GT World Challenge at the Nürburgring.

Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe Nürburgring 2019 standings – Race 2: