Akkodis ASP and Tresor win in GTWC Europe weekend at Brands Hatch

Brands Hatch started the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup season, and with the track usually offering few spots to pass, track position mattered regardless of how the car was put in front, and in totally different scenarios, the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo of Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy and the No. 40 Tresor Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 of Mattia Drudi and Ricardo Feller were the winners of the first double header of 2023.
 
Race 1 had the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes taking control but bringing the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari along, but with one effective racing line available at full tilt, Albert Costa was only doing his best to keep track of Raffaele Marciello.
 
Marciello worked well to open a gap before the pit window opens, and the trick was working as the No. 40 Tresor Audi was the new second placed car and 11 seconds separated the No. 88 from it, while the pair of Emil Frey Ferraris was boxed behind the No. 54 Dinamic Huber Porsche. Ricardo Feller then proceeded to crush the gap in the final 20 minutes, but the No. 40  then got as stuck behind traffic as the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes, having to watch Timur Boguslavskiy win from 0.616 seconds.
 
GTWC Europe - Brands Hatch Race 1 results
 
Audi dominated the other classes on the field as the No. 9 Boutsen VDS car won the Gold Cup with a helping hand from the Silver Cup winning No. 99 Tresor entry, which was slotted in between the No. 9 and the No. 26 Sainteloc Audi and the sister No. 10 Boutsen VDS Audi.
 

In the Sunday afternoon it was a totally different story as the winning No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes was departing from 19th place while an all-Audi front row led the field in Race 2. The No. 27 Sainteloc Audi was leading the No. 11 ComToYou Audi while being followed by the No. 46 WRT BMW, and behind them was the No. 21 ComToYou was managing the Gold Cup lead it had.
 
After a certain period of yellow flag and the pit window, the order was totally flipped over as the No. 40 Tresor Audi appeared in the lead, the No. 27 Sainteloc Audi dropped to eighth and the No. 30 WRT BMW was leading the Gold Cup from seventh as the No. 21 ComToYou Audi also had a drop in pace.
 
The No. 40 was totally safe in front because the No. 46 was falling into the No. 32 WRT BMW`s radar, but once the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren started coming closer, Valentino Rossi got some opportunity to breathe. The situation then remained unchanged, so the No. 40 Tresor Audi just had to be brought home to take the win while the No. 46 WRT BMW and the sister No. 32 car completed the podium.
 
GTWC Europe - Brands Hatch Race 2 results
 
The No. 30 WRT BMW secured the Gold Cup win and stood in seventh overall, while in the Silver Cup it was the No. 119 VSR Lamborghini being crowned as winners after an initially dominant run from the No. 77 Haupt Mercedes being ruined by a post race 10 second penalty.
 
After the Endurance Cup double of Paul Ricard 1000 and 24 Hours of Spa, the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup returns on 15 and 16 July at Misano, in Italy.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/TWENTY-ONE CREATION/Jules Benichou