Winning the first race of the Barcelona weekend of GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS wasn’t enough for Emil Frey Racing, so the No. 163 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo got the Race 2 to add to the streak and put Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoé as serious Sprint Cup title contenders.
The first row was again a mix between Emil Frey Racing and AKKA-ASP, but without a shield like in Race 1, the No. 163 Emil Frey Lamborghini had to hold position all by itself. As first corner incidents would have title fight implications, most of the field went safely through it, except the No. 55 Attempto Audi, which spun and stayed there. As it was in Race 1, the Pro-Am Cup leader, the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari, was collected into the pack and spun to go down to last place.
While Maro Engel was succeeding into making the No. 4 HRT Mercedes a hot contender for the title, series leader No. 32 WRT Audi was holding the third placed No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes, which would need to gain places to boost its chances. Things got hotter when the No. 4 HRT Mercedes left the door open for the No. 66 Attempto Audi to get second place, which puts the Sprint Cup contenders within striking distance of each other just before the pit window.
Most of the frontrunners opted for early stops as they wouldn’t have major losses with their driver changes, while Raffaele Marciello maximized his track time before delivering the No. 88 to Timur Boguslavskiy in hopes to defend from a higher position, only to come back in the same fifth position as none of the top spots were altered, though a Full Course Yellow would at least neutralize their progress.
The yellow flag turned quickly into a Safety Car visit as the No. 18 ERC Mercedes was beached in the gravel, and bunching up the cars would offer new opportunities for the Sprint Cup contenders. In the end, it was a clean restart with no position changes, while in the Pro-Am Cup the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari passed the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari, which would consolidate them as the class title winners.
In the final minutes there were no position changes, so the No. 163 Emil Frey Lamborghini cruised to win another race, while the No. 89 AKKA-ASP Mercedes won the Silver Cup, only to see the pair of the No. 26 Sainteloc Audi to lift the class title, and the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari secured not only the Pro-Am Cup win on track but also the title.
GTWC Europe - Barcelona Race 2 result
Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts keep the lead with 72.5 points ahead of Race 3, with Luca Stolz and Maro Engel having 69.5 points and Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoé having 69, being the main contenders, while Timur Boguslavskiy has 65 points and the close outsider in the fight.
UPDATE:
The No. 163 Emil Frey Lamborghini and the No. 4 HRT Merecedes were penalized with extra 35 seconds to their total race time due to front head restraint not being placed correctly during the pit stops.
With this, the No. 66 Attempto Audi inherits the race win, the No. 163 is demoted to 16th and the No. 4 goes to 17th, effectively eliminating both cars from the title fight.
PHOTO: SRO/Dirk Bogaerts
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