The Blancpain GT Series
is welcomed by the Italian night again as the Sprint Cup started with
the Qualifying Race at Misano. In an impressive show of the Mercedes
AMG GT3, HTP Motorsport made it a 1-2 finish with cars 84
and 85,
Once they passed the
starting line the No. 66 Attempto Racing Lamborghini was
holding the lead well, but once the cars passed the first five
corners a massive crash took place in the middle of the field, taking
out six cars at once, damaging a few more and brought the red flag
with less than two minutes of racing.
After almost 20 minutes
between course cleaning and Safety Car procedures the race was back
and the No. 66 Attempto Lamborghini goes to the pits with no apparent
reason, hading the lead to the No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes. While
that, a bit behind, HTP's sister No. 86 car got victim of a punt and
spun on the first hairpin.
Initially it was time for
Mirko Bortolotti to shine in the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini as he
was closing the gap to Maximilian Buhk, but then he had to worry with
Raffaelle Marcielo and Rob Bell closing in from 3rd and
4th places, but although both had the pace, they failed to
capitalize the overtakes.
Once the Pit Window period
got closed the lead stayed with the No. 84 HTP Mercedes but its
direct contenders were all passed by the No. 85 HTP Mercedes, and
while the podium places appeared to be secure, the No. 63 GRT
Lamborghini had a hard time holding the No. 59 Strakka McLaren
as the No. 7 M-SPORT Bentley was getting closer to the fight.
Andrew Watson was trying
to find a way with his 59 to overtake Christian Engelhart in the 63,
and with four minutes to go he found it before the last corner, but
once the fighting cars went three-wide with the No. 24 REITER
Young Stars Gallardo they got tangled and out of the track,
leaving the fourth place for the No. 7 M-SPORT Bentley. Unlike the
mess described, the top three Mercedes went until the finish in a
clean way as Franck Perera crossed the finish line with the No. 84
HTP Mercedes. Behind the HTP pair, the No. 90 AKKA-ASP Mercedes
completed the overall podium.
Pro-Am Cup honors went to
the No. 11 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
Blancpain GT Sprint Cup - Misano - Qual. Race Results
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