A wet track normally contributes to close racing but this wasn’t the case in the first Blancpain GT Sprint Cup race at Hungaroring, as Christian Engelhardt and Mirko Bortolotti won easily the race in the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3, with a combination of good timing and the right tire strategy.
A massive storm left the track incredibly wet so caution was king, but although things were safe at the start of the race, the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini took its fair share of risk to take the lead before the first corner.
A drying track meant that the front runners were betting in the combination of slick tires and high traction control settings, but against all odds the No. 37 3Y BMW went straight away with rain tires and got a certain advantage, jumping from 11th to 3rd in less than five minutes.
The problem for the BMW was that the tire deterioration was so quick that he started losing pace with less than 10 minutes and couldn’t avoid going way down the table. During the BMW takeover, the No. 37 caught the back of the No. 1 WRT Audi and sent it to the main straight wall, but damage thankfully was minimal so Alex Riberas could bring the car to the pits.
The whole mess that the first minutes were allowed the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini to open a good gap and so it wasn’t threatened through the whole first half of racing, and this was carried after the pit window as the No. 87 AKKA-ASP Mercedes wasn’t even able to close the gap between them. With better pace, the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes was expected to do the chase, but time wasn’t there to help it, so Mirko Bortolotti just had to manage his way in the No. 63 to the finish.
The No. 87 AKKA-ASP Mercedes still managed to get Silver Cup honors, while The No. 751 SunEnergy1 Mercedes won the Pro-Am straight after their class win at the Suzuka 10 Hours.
PHOTO: GRT - Grässer Racing Team
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