GTWC Europe had a WRT show at Misano

The GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup was back to action at Misano, and since the Italian circuit doesn’t offer many overtake spots, pace alone doesn’t bring victories, and while the No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 Evo was indeed fast, clever pitwork also did the trick to help the cause of Charles Weerts and Kelvin van der Linde as they completed a full weekend sweep.
 
Normally this would be the point where it would be told that all cars started safely in Race, but the No. 66 Attempto Audi takes too much time to depart, gets a contact and starts a domino effect that spins it and collects the No. 3 Verstappen Mercedes before the first corner. With this, the No. 32 WRT BMW took the lead while the rest of the field tried to find space on track, settling down when the Safety Car entered.
 
Besides the Bronze Cup leaders in second and third, Lucas Auer had the No. 46 WRT BMW in front protecting the lead, and Valentino Rossi was having none of it, shutting the door right in Auer’s face and leaving the No. 48 Winward Mercedes to the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche. Near the pit window, the No. 46 got a 10 second penalty for a jump start, throwing it to the fringes of the top 10, while the No. 32 still led the race but had the No. 80 on the chase as the Bronze Cup contenders dropped down the order.
 
The No. 80 never caught the No. 32 WRT BMW as the gap neared 10 seconds, and with a late yellow caused by a heavy crash for the No. 555 CSA McLaren, the race ended during the neutralization. The No. 99 Attempto Audi got a comfortable Gold Cup win, and the same can be said about the No. 30 WRT BMW in the Silver Cup, while the No. 12 Getspeed Mercedes counted with a momentary electric failure in the No. 87 Winward Mercedes to win the Bronze Cup.
 
GTWC Europe - Misano Race 1 results
 

The No. 3 Verstappen Mercedes was on pole for the second race, and despite the fierce battle with the No. 32 WRT BMW, this time the car made it past the first corner in one piece, with Jules Gounon prevailing over Kelvin van der Linde.
 
The top three cars quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the field, which in theory would be bad for Gounon, as van der Linde had Max Hesse on his trail, making it two WRT cars against the single Winward-run one. But if the No. 32 can’t overtake on track, the sollution was in WRT’s specialty, and of course a quicker pitwork has put the No. 32 ahead of the No. 3 by a solid margin, with the No. 46 still behind in third.
 
While Daniel Juncadella has some gains here and there during the second stint, those weren’t good enough to mount an attack for the lead, so the No. 32 WRT BMW stood strong in the lead and won by a solid margin.
 
The No. 99 Attempto Audi also completed a Gold Cup sweep, while the No. 6 Getspeed Mercedes was the Silver Cup winner by some margin and the No. 87 Winward Mercedes recovered from the mistakes of Saturday and won the Bronze Cup.
 
GTWC Europe - Misano Race 2 results
 
The Sprint Cup table is topped by the duo van der Linde/Weerts (No. 32) with 46.5 points, with the Engel/Auer (No. 48) being the closest threats with 32.5 points, followed by Feller/Buus (No. 80) with 30.5 and Daniel Juncadella (No. 3) with 25.
 
Next in the calendar is Magny-Cours, with the French circuit set to mark the halfway of the Sprint Cup season on 1 and 2 August.
 
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP