HTP Motorsport
was a contender for the Sprint Cup and Blancpain
GT trophies this weekend at Barcelona,
but the No. 84 Mercedes
was in different situations in the two drivers’ standings, chasing
WRT in one
and trying to hold Garage 59
in the other. While one battle was lost to the WRT side, the other
still brought trophies to the Mercedes team as AKKA-ASP
were dominant in the Main Race.
To lift the Sprint
Cup trophy Enzo Ide
just had to be in front of Maximilian
Buhk and Dominik
Baumann, and to avoid throwing the
title possibility away he let the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes overtake
and lead in the first corner, and this was the opportunity that
Maxime Soulet saw to put the No. 8 M-Sport Bentley in second place.
In a bid to at least
go for the overall championship, Dominik Baumann was pushing as hard
as he could, even being somewhat forceful in certain moves, but with
the No. 33 WRT Audi in third, the No. 84 HTP Mercedes in seventh and
the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren in 15th,
everything would be settled without anything much to do.
Even the pit window
was a factor to change the outcome of the race, with the contenders
coming back in the same positions. Alvaro
Parente was able to gain positions for
the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren, but didn’t go past 13th,
while Maximilian Buhk paid for being impatient behind the No. 5
Phoenix Audi, driven by Alessio Picariello, going off the track but
managing to lose only a single position.
While the No. 88
AKKA-ASP Mercedes disappeared in the lead, the No. 8 Bentley and the
No. 33 Audi kept a tight battle for second without many risky moves
until the last lap, when Andy Soucek almost sent Robin Frijns to the
wall, then keeping their places and completing the podium. The 8th
place finish made Dominik Baumann lose the Sprint Cup titles, but was
also enough to achieve the overall Blancpain GT Series trophy as Rob
Bell and Alvaro Parente finished in the
same 13th
place. The No. 5 Phoenix Audi was the Silver Cup winner, with the No.
333 Rinaldi Ferrari and the No. 55 AF Corse Ferrari being the Pro-Am
and Am Cup winners.
Enzo Ide was crowned
Blancpain GT Sprint champion with 102 points against 79 from
Christopher Mies and 67 from Dominik Baumann and Maximilian Buhk,
with WRT winning the teams title with 104 points. Baumann and Buhk
still have celebrations to do as they clinched the overall Blancpain
GT title with 134 points against 124 from Rob Bell, with HTP
Motorsport lifting the overall teams’ trophy with 167 points
against 160 from the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.
Michele Beretta and
Luca Stolz got the Silver Cup title for Grässer Racing and
Lamborghini, while Michal Broniszewski became the Blancpain GT Sprint
Pro-Am champion and Claudio Sdanewitsch was the Am Cup champion. Like
between the drivers, Kessel Racing and AF Corse were the Pro-Am and
Am Cup winning teams. Both teams were also Blancpain GT Series
champions in their respective classes.
PHOTOS: Blancpain GT Series
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