The final round of the 2018 Intercontinental GT Challenge saw Audi and Mercedes deploy the same tactics in order to take the drivers and teams titles as the ones with a shot for the title were put in different entries, and while the 1-2 finish led by the No. 29 Land Audi gave the manufacturers title to the Ingolstadt brand, it was Tristan Vautier who conquered the drivers title.
The No. 29 Land Audi was quick to establish a gap, though Raffaele Marciello in the No. 43 Strakka Mercedes and Robin Frijns in the No. 19 WRT Audi were keeping a close into van der Linde. Marciello was in a strong pace and putting pressure into van der Linde, with the backmarkers in front making it worse for the South African driver.
The first yellow flag period came after the first hour with an off from the No. 99 BHA Hyundai TCR, and once the green flag came back, Maximilian Götz in the No. 43 was dictating the pace as he got the lead, though he had Christopher Mies and Dries Vanthoor in the No. 29 Land Audi and the No. 19 from WRT right at his back wing. The Audis could be keeping Götz honest, but the No. 29 got a drive through penalty for passing under yellow flag condition, so the No. 19 went solo for the hunt.
After 1 hour and a half racing another yellow flag period appeared as the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes and the No. 46 PPM Lamborghini found the gravel trap and got stuck there facing the barriers.
The third hour saw the table being shuffled with the No. 8 M-SPORT Bentley dominating the third hour as Andy Soucek was with good pace, and although the car lost places after the pit stop, Vincent Abril kept it in the fight for the lead spots, while the No. 43 Strakka Mercedes retook the lead with Lewis Williamson at the wheel, though the pit window gave the advantage back to the No. 8.
After the 3 hour mark another yellow flag appeared with the No. 87 Vital Speed Ferrari and the No. 98 BHA Hyundai TCR crashing into each other at the Corkscrew, which pretty much eliminated the TCR class from the race.
Most of the time then was spent with the No. 8 M-SPORT Bentley in chase of the No. 43 Strakka Mercedes for the lead while the No. 19 WRT Audi and the No. 29 Land Audi were just outside the lead battle, when Andy Soucek did a bold move to pass both the No. 29 Land Audi and a backmarker GT4 BMW, but a contact with the BMW and a puncture in the rear left tire ruined the day for the No. 8 and brought another yellow flag, as the No. 113 RHC BMW GT4 got stuck in the sand.
With less than 2 hours to go none of the leaders was really eager to push or attack, except Raffaele Marciello in the No. 43 Strakka Mercedes, but his advances were stopped by the No. 17 WRT Audi after a brave outside move, which sent the Italian to a brief off-track moment and to the 5th place overall. The No. 29 and the No. 19 were switching places but in the end the No. 29 got established in the lead for the final hour, having a trouble-free run to the finish.
Strakka Racing still had the GT3 Pro-Am Cup win of the No. 42 Mercedes to celebrate, while the No. 626 Rearden Audi got GT4 class honors. The No. 6 US Racetronics Lamborghini ST and the No. 98 BHA Hyundai TCR got the GTC and TCR class wins by being the only car of their respective classes on track.
The third place finish of the No. 175 SunEnergy1 Mercedes was enough for Tristan Vautier to get the drivers title while Christopher Haase was the runner-up, and the Audi 1-2 at Laguna Seca gave the manufacturers title to them, stealing the lead from Mercedes in the final event.
PHOTO: Audi Sport
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.