Despite the moderate level of chaos that took the GT World Challenge Europe field in the two races at Zandvoort, the winners of the weekend had pretty consistent races with almost no threats, with the Saturday going to the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Tom Fleming and Louis Prette, while the Sunday went to the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Thierry Vermeulen and Ben Green.
Tom Fleming had no reservations to put the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren in the lead of the first race, with Morris Schuring being mugged immediately after the start, and while an early yellow bunched up the field, the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche was busier defending from the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 991 Paradine BMW than to attack the No. 58.
With the No. 914 Razoon Porsche holding the No. 80 Lionspeed Porsche, the No. 58 and the No. 2 were isolated fighting for the lead, but when the battle for third got too heated, a huge gap appeared and the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari passed both Porsches.
With Dorian Boccolacci incapable to extract more pace from the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche, the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren just had to go for the line to win it overall and also in the Gold Cup. Despite losing the overall win, the No. 2 still got the Pro Cup win by a decent margin over the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari.
GTWC Europe - Zandvoort race 1 results
The No. 30 WRT BMW won the Silver Cup with authority and saved the Belgian team’s day, as two of their cars, including the No. 32 BMW, parked with issues or because of crashes. In the Bronze Cup, while the No. 991 Paradine BMW remained a contender for the whole race, Darren Leung fell off in pace during his stint, allowing Peter Dempsey to put the No. 93 Tempesta Porsche in the top spot of the class.
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The No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren was in the front row again in the second race, but not only the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari kept the lead from pole position, but the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari took the second place to make the team tactics work, or at least have better positioning as the Safety Car was called before the first lap ends, as the No. 84 Eastalent Audi stopped as a result of contact damage.
While the Emil Frey Ferraris stood in front after a short yellow, but Ben Green timed the restart right and stole the lead from Konsta Lappalainen as the No. 69 and the No. 14 continued to distance themselves from the chasing pack. The pit window kept the No. 69 in the lead, but sending both cars to pit in different moments worked partially for Emil Frey, with the No. 14 falling behind the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche.
With the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche falling in pace and being pressured by the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari for the rest of the race, the No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari had open way to bring it home to a win with authority.
GTWC Europe - Zandvoort Race 2 results
With the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren way down in the order due to a penalty for an avoidable contact, the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari won the Gold Cup and nearly got an overall top 5, being stuck behind the sister No. 50 car as it chased the No. 46 WRT BMW in fourth. The No. 21 Comtoyou Aston Martin took Silver Cup honors with ease, way ahead of the now crowned class champion No. 30 WRT BMW, while in the Bronze Cup, the No. 93 Tempesta Porsche won the battle with the No. 222 2Seas Mercedes at the line.
Feller and Buus (No. 80) lead the Sprint Cup table with 59 points against 53 of Daniel Juncadella (No. 3) and Leclerc and Neubauer (No. 50), while van der Linde and Weerts (No. 32) sit in third with 49.5 points. Engel and Auer (No. 48) appear in fourth with 42 and Sunday winners Green and Vermeulen (No. 69) have 40 points, meaning that six entries have high possibilities of getting the title at the Barcelona finale on 3 and 4 October.
PHOTOS: SRO/JEP
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