Change the number and also the drivers
but the winning car and team of Saturday (03) were still the winners
of Sunday (04) as the No. 2 WRT Audi led a four-ringed 1-2-3-4
in the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup Main Race at Zolder,
Belgium, thanks to excellent pitwork and misfortunes of the
opposition.
The green flag was out and things got
way cleaner than Saturday at the start as Michael Meadows in the No.
90 AKKA-ASP Mercedes stole the lead from the No. 17 WRT Audi
with Stuart Leonard, but the leader was under investigation due
to its start procedure as Meadows pulled away to early. Further back
in the field there was the first contact as the No. 99 ROWE BMW was
spun by the No. 5 WRT Audi, losing all places in the process.
The No. 90 got its breathing space in 9
minutes of racing as the No. 75 ISR Audi had to deal with the
No. 2 WRT Audi, but without proper gap it was impossible to use the
pace advantage. Two minutes later the penalty for the No. 90 AKKA-ASP
Mercedes came as a drive through due to start procedure infringement,
promoting the No. 75 to the lead. To ruin Meadows' race for real,
another penalty for the car being jacked after the 3 minute to start
board, so another drive through had to be done.
If the No. 2 had problems to overtake
the No. 75 on track, all that was needed to do is to overtake in the
pit window, and a combination of WRT's textbook pitwork and ISR's
mistakes gave a place to the No. 2, which eventually became the lead
once everything was sorted out.
With 12 minutes to go and most of the
things settled on track the No. 86 HTP Mercedes gets tapped by the
No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes when fighting for fifth place, and with the
No. 86 stuck in the main straight, a full course yellow flag was
called, opening the opportunity for the No. 75 ISR Audi to fight for
the win. Unfortunately, the whole work left time for a single green
flag lap and with the help of a backmarker the No. 2 kept stuck in
the lead while the No. 75 had the Nos. 17 and 5 WRT Audis all over
its back. Without any space to prepare an attack, positions stayed
like it was, meaning that the No. 2 WRT Audi won another one for the
Belgian team, with the No. 75 ISR Audi in second and the No. 17 WRT
Audi completing the overall podium while the No. 5 WRT Audi missed it
by little.
The Silver Cup winner was the
No. 85 HTP Mercedes in stellar drives from Fabian Schiller and
Jules Szymkowiak, and the Pro-Am Cup honors went to the No.
11 Kessel Ferrari of Michal Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini.
The Sprint Cup stays stopped until
August when Budapest holds the fourth double-header of the season on
the 26th and 27th, and while that the Endurance
Cup returns with the Paul Ricard 1000 km on June 24th.
PHOTO: Blancpain GT Series
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