The second weekend of FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup helped establishing a shape for the title battle, with WRT getting the honors on Saturday with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, and Akkodis-ASP having the Sunday win to crown a consistent double header for Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello.
Simon Gachet led the field at the start in the No. 11 Car Collection Audi, with the company of the No. 26 Saintéloc Audi and the No. 32 WRT Audi, with the No. 53 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 89 Akkodis-ASP Mercedes standing at the back of the top-5 and waiting for chances.
Charles Weerts eventually passed the No. 26 Saintéloc Audi for second overall, but since Gilles Magnus still had the Silver Cup lead, it wouldn't be a huge loss to let Weerts pass. Weerts pushed hard before the pit window, but it wasn't enough to challenge for first at the moment.
Dries Vanthoor kept the fast laps coming in the No. 32 WRT Audi, which was enough to pass the No. 11 Car Collection Audi at the exit of their pit stop, with the No. 89 Akkodis-ASP Mercedes also gaining a place by outpacing the No. 53 AF Corse Ferrari in the mandatory pit stop, coming hot to attack the No. 11. Raffaele Marciello got closer and closer, eventually cornering Christopher Haase and getting second place, but even though the No. 89 had the pace, it didn't have the time to attack the winning No. 32 WRT Audi.
GTWC Europe - Magny-Cours Race 1 results
The No. 26 Saintéloc Audi held the No. 53 AF Corse and won the Silver Cup despite tumbling down the overall order, while the No. 188 Garage 59 McLaren had everything in control and won in the Pro-Am Cup.
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Race 2 had an Akkodis-ASP filled front row, and the presence of the No. 88 Mercedes in second place helped the No. 89 to stay in the lead as they defended themselves from the Audis right behind. Marciello's threat was still with a WRT banner, but this time it was Christopher Mies in the No. 33 WRT Audi, while the No. 32 Audi was rallycrossing its way into the first corner and doing a recovery race.
Maximilian Götz couldn't hold the pressure for too much time, and once it lost place to the No. 33 Audi, the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi followed the sister car and barged its way to third place.
For Timur Boguslavskiy in the leading No. 89, the remainder of the race was about managing the good gap he had to Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, carrying the Mercedes straight to the finish with the chasing pack nowhere to be seen.
GTWC Europe - Magny-Cours Race 2 results
The No. 53 AF Corse Ferrari had a more comfortable Sunday with the Silver Cup in dominant fashion, while the No. 111 JP Motorsport did a competent run to win in the Pro-Am Cup.
The Race 2 win at Magny-Cours adds to the Race 2 win at Brands Hatch and keeps the duo Boguslavskiy/Marciello in the lead with 56.5 points against the 45 of Weerts/Vanthoor and the surprising 32.5 of Silver Cup contenders De Pauw/Jean.
The Sprint Cup is back to action at Zandvoort on 18-19 June, but before that the Endurance Cup returns with the Paul Ricard 1000 on 5 June.
PHOTOS: SRO/Patrick Hecq, Kelvin Pecks
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