WRT sweeps GTWC Europe weekend at Misano

With the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe visiting the land of Valentino Rossi, it’s obvious the MotoGP legend would like to perform well in front of the home crowd, and this came as a win for the No. 46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 with Maxime Martin, while the No. 32 car of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts completed the job for the Belgian team at Misano.
 
The No. 46 WRT BMW secured the top spot immediately in Race 1 and the No. 54 Dinamic GT Porsche took the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari off the second position, and even if things settled down after it, the gaps were kept small, with the No. 32 WRT BMW having to resort to some roughness to pass the No. 14.
 
While not in direct competition for a class win, keeping the No. 54 in second overall was a good deal for Marvin Dienst as it would keep the No. 72 Barwell Lamborghini and the other Bronze Cup competitors miles away from the Porsche. As for Maxime Martin, the No. 54 interfering with the Pro Cup fight would shield him and allow for an extra push from the No. 46 WRT BMW, saving Valentino Rossi from an intra-team squabble in the second stint.
 
The early undercut in the pit window worked well to keep the No. 46 ahead while the No. 32 finally had clear road ahead to close down or even engage into battle with the sister BMW. Charles Weerts was faster than Rossi, and with the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari 13 seconds behind, they could afford a battle, but Weerts wasn’t eager to take the risk and possibly blow up the team’s race, and Vincent Vosse was controlling himself to not call the shots to allow the switch.
 
In the end everybody settled for their positions, which allowed the No. 46 WRT BMW to cross the finish line in first while the No. 32 WRT BMW completed the team and the manufacturer 1-2. WRT also secured the Silver Cup win with some ease for the No. 30 BMW, with the same happening in the Gold Cup for the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi. Behind the No. 25, the No. 54 Dinamic GT Porsche saved the Bronze Cup win from slipping past Philipp Sager’s hands, as the car expectedly tumbled down the overall order and also had a not so welcome damage in the second half of racing.
 
GTWC Europe - Misano Race 1 results
 

Evening came, and an spectacle of the Misano weekend, which is the Saturday night race, which this year closed down the double header. The No. 32 WRT BMW kept the top spot in a somewhat peaceful start, with the No. 007 Comtoyou Aston Martin and the No. 44 Schumacher CLRT Porsche stopped on track, which triggered the Safety Car entry.
 
With the No. 48 Winward Mercedes not being able to follow the No. 32, Charles Weerts kept opening the gap to Lucas Auer until the end of his stint, and since after the pit window the No. 46 WRT BMW got stuck behind the No. 48, the No. 32 kept having free reign to go away.
 
In the end, despite all the moves done by Maxime Martin to put the No. 46 ahead of the No. 48, Maro Engel was unmovable from second place, meaning that the No. 32 WRT BMW came for a rather comfortable win as the other WRT BMW was keeping the No. 48 Winward Mercedes too busy to close down the gap from the 2 seconds it always had.
 
The No. 30 WRT BMW completed a Silver Cup sweep with another comfortable class win, while the No. 111 CSA Audi collected the Gold Cup honors, with the No. 93 Tempesta Ferrari being the Bronze Cup winner.
 
GTWC Europe - Misano Race 2 results
 
Weerts and Vanthoor (No. 32) lead the standings with 49 points against the 45 from Auer and Engel (No. 48), with Rossi and Martin (No. 46) being in a close third with 39 points. The GTWC Europe Sprint Cup takes a pause due to the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the 24 Hours of Spa and returns on 20 and 21 July at Hockenheim.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP