The Zandvoort weekend of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS opened with a rather chaotic race that saw the weather scramble with tire strategy and with the table, and WRT had the smartest run of the lot, winning in convincing manner with the No. 31 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo of Ryuichiro Tomita and Kelvin van der Linde.
The Race initially saw no rain, but along the fact that the track was still damp, it was also really cold, with its temperature being at zero degrees Celsius at the start, meaning that careful driving would be a good choice. The light shower decided to appear when the cars were ready to push under green flag, which made some teams choose to immediately change from slicks to wets.
Departing with wet tires, the No. 31 WRT Audi had a good advantage over the rest of the field, and Ryuichiro Tomita was comfortable in his favorable situation, while the chasing No. 163 Emil Frey Lamborghini was in slick tires. The differences in tire choices were paying the price in the long term, with the slower cars in slicks being lapped near the pit window time.
The No. 163 was closing in with steady pace, but a rear left tire blow ruined the race for the Lamborghini, opening the way for a dominating performance for the No. 31. While there were no threats to the leader, the mixed weather scrambled so much the weather that the lead battles for all classes were within the overall top-5, with the No. 26 Sainteloc Audi leading the Silver Cup with certain ease while the No. 20 SPS Mercedes had to work hard for the Pro-Am Cup top spot against the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari.
Kelvin van der Linde just kept the good work from Ryuichiro Tomita in the No. 31 WRT Audi, and with this the gap to the No. 108 CMR Bentley just increased to a point when the leader wouldn’t be threatened, and so it followed until the finish line.
GTWC Europe - Zandvoort Race 1 results
After battling with the No. 26 Sainteloc Audi, the No. 108 CMR Bentley not only consolidated the Silver Cup win but also the second place overall, and after a hard battle, the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari kept the streak in the Pro-Am Cup, leaving behind the No. 18 ERC Mercedes and the No. 20 SPS Mercedes.
PHOTO: SRO/Patrick Hecq
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