WRT inherits Race 1 win after post-race penalty for GRT

What could have been turned into a three-way battle for the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup title became more in favor of Christopher Mies and Alex Riberas as the No. 1 WRT Audi R8 LMS inherited the win from the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini after a post-race penalty being issued to the Austrian team.

The No. 63 GRT Lamborghini made a strange line at Turn 1 in the start but managed to hold the top spot, though the No. 1 WRT Audi jumped from fourth to second, which wouldn’t help GRT in their bid for the championship. Of the immediate contenders, the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes was the one in the worst position, lying in 11^th and trying to rise.

While that the first Yellow Flag period didn’t take much to appear as the No. 333 Rinaldi Ferrari and the No. 39 Kessel Ferrari crashed, with the No. 39 having in the worst end as a broken rear right wheel ended their race and ruined their Pro-Am Cup title chances.

Mirko Bortolotti had everything in control from the first place even when the green flags were waved again, with the No. 1 Audi having some good pressure in the back wing from the No. 14 Emil Frey Lexus until the pit window. After it, the situation stayed the same as the No. 1 couldn’t catch the No. 63, though the No. 88 made some good progress to fifth place.

Later on though, an update brought mentioned that Christian Engelhardt had his frontal head restraint over the shoulder straps of his harness, and due to this the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini was penalised with extra 30 seconds in its final time, meaning that the No. 1 WRT Audi inherited the win.

The change of results also gave the teams title early for WRT, with the Belgian team scoring 120 points against 102.5 from AKKA-ASP, so WRT keeps their unbeaten streak since the start of the Sprint Cup.

Blancpain GT Sprint Cup - Nürburgring Race 1 results

The No. 26 Saintéloc Audi competed alone in the Pro-Am Cup as its opponents retired, and with the win Nyls Stievenart and Markus Winkelhock are closer than ever to the class title. The No. 3 WRT Audi got Silver Cup honors, though it will be a fight for second in the standings as the No. 90 AKKA-ASP duo of Jack Manchester and Nico Bastian already clinched the class title.

PHOTO: WRT