Open title fight ahead of Blancpain GT Sprint Cup finale

Now it's down to two races in the last weekend of the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup at Nürburgring, and the German event is expected to decide where various titles would go as almost no lead is safe to point it a favorite.

The Overall Driver standings put five pairs in the title race, with Maximilian Buhk and Franck Perera from HTP Motorsport in the lead with 60 points followed closely by Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhardt from Grässer Racing in second with 57 points. Although in the top, those two pair may face problems with the other three behind them, as Marcel Fässler and Dries Vanthoor, Stuart Leonard and Robin Frijns, with 56 points, and Will Stevens and Markus Winkelhock, with 54, all drive for the same organization, which is WRT, a team used to win in the Sprint Cup and with big opportunities for team work in order to stay close or to slow down the pace of the leaders, depending of the occasion.

The potential in WRT to dominate the front pack was shown in two specific occasions, and although Nürburgring is faster and offers more overtaking opportunities, a pole position or a front row qualification will be necessary, along with good pitwork, something where WRT also excels and a point that gave them race wins too.

Vincent Abril and Steven Kane from Bentley M-Sport, with 31 points, and Jake Dennis and Pieter Schothorst from WRT, with 27 points, still have a shot but would depend of a miracle to turn things around, like, a lot of DNFs or a catastrophe that would take the leaders out of the point scoring zone.

The Teams championship doesn't change too much, although it favors WRT much more, as they lead with 83 points against 70 of Grässer Racing and Team WRT (the first one is the Belgian Audi Club backed one), with HTP being the last contender with 69 points. With the highest ranked car being the one to score points, the WRT team play may put Grässer and HTP down in the table and settle things fast if their other cars doesn't help in the task of countering it.

The Pro-Am Cup title for drivers is a Ferrari matter, as Daniel Keilwitz and Alexander Matschull from Rinaldi Racing lead the table with 110 points against 97 of Piti Bhirombhakdi and Carlo van Dam from Kessel Racing TP12, unlike the Teams' standings where the order is unchanged as Rinaldi has 116 points and Kessel has 106, but the 80 points of AKKA-ASP give them a remote chance of title, and knowing that this will rely on each car's ability through traffic, the battle is open, although Rinaldi has the upper hand for being a constant frontrunner.

The only championships that were already decided before the German weekend were the Silver Cup, where Fabian Schiller and Jules Szymkowiak already took it for HTP Motorsport, and the Am Cup, as Stephen Earle and David Perel from Kessel Racing were the only drivers in the class during the whole season.

PHOTO - Blancpain GT Series