Winward and Emil Frey win at Hockenheim

The winners of the Hockenheim weekend of FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup had to be patient, because despite the comfortable wins from the No. 48 Winward Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo and the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari 296 GT3, the result only became clear after the second half of both races.
 
Race 1 had two Ferraris in the front row, with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari sustaining the lead despite immense pressure from the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari and the No. 48 Winward Mercedes. Alessio Donno was doing his job diligently by keeping Ben Green away and leading overall and in the Silver Cup.
 
Green’s pace eventually fell off dramatically and the No. 48 got past for second, and so did the No. 991 Century BMW for third overall while keeping the Bronze Cup lead. The No. 71 eventually fell off after the pit window, even losing the class lead to the No. 30 WRT BMW, and the No. 48 had the overall lead as Maro Engel was trying to shake off Dries Venthoor as the No. 32 WRT BMW was following the No. 48’s pace.
 
Despite keeping the pace with Engel, Vanthoor couldn’t close down more and find a way past, so the remaining minutes of racing had the No. 48 Winward Mercedes keeping control of the action and eventually securing the victory.
 
Both the Silver Cup and Gold Cup saw late turnarounds at the top, with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari recovering the Silver Cup lead and winning, while the No. 6 Engstler Lamborghini found the way past the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi to win the Gold Cup. The No. 991 Century BMW may have dropped down the overall table but remained dominant in the Bronze Cup during the whole time.
 
GTWC Europe - Hockenheim Race 1 results
 

Luca Engstler had to work hard to keep the No. 6 Team Engstler Lamborghini in the lead when the Race 2 started as the No. 99 Attempto Audi pressed from the start line. Ricardo Feller tried to keep the pressure on Engstler, but Konsta Lappalainen was bringing the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari closer to Feller, and since this was a battle for the Pro Cup lead, defending took more priority for Feller, only for the left front suspension to collapse and leave him behind.
 
Still behind Engstler, Dries Vanthoor was putting the No. 32 WRT BMW in all corners possible to find a way past the No. 14. With the No. 6 falling off miserably after a slow pit window, the Pro Cup got free reign to fight for the overall win, but Charles Weerts had a persistent Lucas Auer at the back wing of the No. 32, so Ben Green`s job was to bring the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari home and secure the win.
 
The No. 30 WRT BMW won the Silver Cup comfortably while the Gold Cup had business until the finish line, with the No. 88 Attempto Audi defending hard from the No. 111 CSA Audi. The No. 991 Century BMW completed the list of class winners by sweeping the Bronze Cup.
 
GTWC Europe - Hockenheim Race 2 results
 
The Sprint Cup will have to wait a month to get back to action as Magny-Cours hosts the penultimate weekend as round 7 of the full GTWC Europe on 24 and 25 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP