Misano – Race 1: Weerts and Vanthoor, easy winners in Italy

Show of force by Chales Weerts and Dries Vanthoor. The Belgian duo from Team WRT largely won on Saturday during Race 1 at Misano, sixth stage of the GT World Challenge and 4th round of the Sprint Cup. The drivers of the No. 32 Audi thus achieved a third victory this season in the sprint competition, after Magny-Cours and Zandvoort, and increased their lead in the category championship.

Eventful departure to Misano

Even before the start of the formation lap, the crew of the Mercedes No. 88 formed by Jim Pla and Jules Gounon (Akkodis ASP) is penalized and must start at the back of the grid, for a change of driver between qualifying and the start. When the lights went out, Charles Weerts escaped in front of Vincent Abril... for only a few seconds. At turn 8, the No. 93 Mercedes of Eddie Cheever collided with Aurélien Panis, who spun. Upside down in the middle of the trajectory, the #25 Audi of the Saintéloc team was hit first by the #99 of Alex Aka then by the #21 of Hugo Delacourt. The three cars were forced to retire and the safety car was deployed.

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Confirmed: Cheever spins Panis around, leaving the Audi stranded.#FanatecGT 🏁 #GTWorldChEu pic.twitter.com/i8IFRsAIzk

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After 7 minutes of interruption under Safety Car, Charles Weerts restarted and regained the lead in the first laps. In the peloton, the McLaren #111 of Krupinski (JP Motorsport) and the #18 Lamborghini of Kroes (GSM Novamarine) touch each other and have to retire, suspensions damaged on both cars. Despite some debris on the track, the safety car remained in the pits.

Weerts and Vanthoor without competition

Until the first stops, Weerts continued to gain a lead over Abril. But the JP Motorsport team's McLaren experienced an ordeal in the pits, with a very slow stop then a 10-second penalty for a dangerous exit from the pits. Another team which missed its stop: the WRT n°46 of Valentino Rossi and Frederic Vervisch. Victim of contact in the pit lane, the Audi R8 from the stage local had to abandon, front left wheel veiled.

Bg problems for the #46. That's a shame after solid opening stint from local hero Valentino Rossi.

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— Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS (@GTWorldChEu) July 2, 2022

After the waltz of driver changes, Dries Vanthoor remains in the lead with 5 seconds ahead of the championship leader, Raffaele Marciello. A gap that will not budge until the finish. In the Sprint Cup championship standings, the Belgian duo is now 6 points ahead of the Boguslavskiy-Marciello duo. The Italian-Swiss remains at the top of the GT World Challenge Europe championship with 5 points ahead of their runners-up.

Third place on the podium in Race 1 is occupied by Benjamin Goethe and Thomas Neubauer (Team WRT), who also finished first in the Silver category. The Dane was able to resist the pressure from Christopher Haase (Tresor by Car Collection) at the end of the race. In Pro-Am, the #188 McLaren of Miguel Ramos and Dean MacDonald finished first in its category just ahead of the Ferrari Andrea Bertollini and Louis Machiels (AF Corsica). 

The classification of Race 1 in Misano: 

The full ranking can be found here.