A weekend of mixed weather at Hungaroring saw all the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe title being decided, and although AKKA-ASP had celebrations due to their clean sweep with the No. 88 Mercedes AMG GT3, it was Chinese outfit FFF Racing that enjoyed it more by having the 2019 title, going in a streak after their 2018 triumph in Asia.
Given the wet condition of the track in Race 1, the start was done behind the Safety Car, which took about six minutes, and when the green flag came in, aggression went high as the racers were quite bold in their moves to climb up the order.
It was a Mercedes 1-2 at the moment, with the No. 88 AKKA-ASP car opening some gap while the No. 4 Black Falcon car was in defensive mode against the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini, though its blocking attempts went to ruin.
The title contender No. 563 FFF Lamborghini put the strategy into action and stopped early, while its rival, the No. 4 Mercedes, went a few minutes later in the middle of the pit window. The leaders opted to go as late as possible, which didn’t change anything on top, whil the No. 563 was working the hard way and conquered sixth place.
In the final moments, the No. 4 was totally in the offensive over the No. 63, though the room to make it happen was minimal, and the No. 63’s block was destroyed little by little with the extra pace of the No. 4, so the No. 88 from AKKA-ASP celebrated victory and the No. 4 from Black Falcon enjoyed the extra points from finishing in second.
AKKA-ASP also celebrated a Silver Cup win with the No. 89 Mercedes and the Pro-Am Cup win with the No. 87 Mercedes.
It was a mad dash to the first corner in Race 2, with the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes commanding after the third turn, and the hot start was immediately cooled down by an incident that caused a puncture and a spin for the No. 333 Rinaldi Ferrari, ending their Pro-Am Cup quest.
The No. 88 kept the lead after a brief Safety Car period, while the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini was holding second place in order to keep the No. 4 Black Falcon Mercedes under the sight of the No. 563 FFF Lamborghini. The Lamborghinis got deeper into strategy with early pit stops and specially quick service for the No. 563.
While the No. 88 was comfortable in the lead due to battle for second, the No. 63 was doing the best possible to hold station, and this was allowing the No. 563 to catch up the No. 4, but the lack of overtaking opportunities kept things as they were, with the No. 88 Mercedes winning by a big margin and the No. 63 and No. 4 completing the overall podium.
Again AKKA-ASP was able to celebrate multiple wins, with the No. 90 Mercedes being triumphant in the Silver Cup. The Pro-Am Cup went to a Lamborghini, more specifically the No. 519 from FFF Racing.
In the end, Marco Mappelli and Andrea Caldarelli were tied in points with Luca Stolz and Maro Engel, though the Italian duo had two wins against one from the Germans, so FFF Racing took the drivers title, with AKKA-ASP getting the teams title.
AKKA-ASP did a Silver Cup clean sweep with Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer, while FFF Racing had Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Phil Keen lifting the Pro-Am Cup title.
FFF Racing does an incredible feat of conquering two continental Blancpain GT Series in a row, moving to Europe in 2019 after being the Overall, Silver Cup and Pro-Am champion of the Blancpain GT Series Asia. Mapelli and Hamaguchi were part of the Pro-Am Cup winning campaign, so they carry over from what they did, even though they are in different classes.
The Blancpain GT Series finale will be at Barcelona, Spain, on September 29th, with not only the overall titles being up for grabs, but also the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup ones.
PHOTO - SRO/Patrick Hecq Photography
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