Weekly Racing Roundup (9.11.23)

Marinangeli, Agostini Win From 17th in Austria

A well-timed pitstop before the emergence of a safety car laid the groundwork for AF Corse to win International GT Open Race 2 at the Red Bull Ring.

Nicola Marinangeli and Riccardo Agostini came from 17th on the grid in their No. 51 Ferrari 296 GT3 to beat the Optimum Motorsport duo of Charlie Fagg and Sam de Haan to victory.

Marinangeli made his way up to 12th place when Milos Pavlovic found the gravel in the No. 33 Bonaldi Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, triggering the race’s second safety car just before the halfway mark. 

The neutralization shook up the order, with Marinangeli at the head of a group of cars pitting before the safety car was called and thus catapulting the No. 51 Ferrari up the order.

Co-driver Agostini then moved past De Haan to take the lead after the restart. He held off the British driver until contact between Team Motopark’s Marcos Siebert and Oregon Team driver Daan Arrow saw the No. 19 Lamborghini pitched on its side approaching Turn 9 with seven minutes to go, causing the race to end under safety car.

A protest from Motopark over the safety car procedure means the results are provisional until further notice.

In the opening race of the weekend on Saturday, Maximilian Paul and Pierre-Louis Chovet dominated to take their third win of the season aboard the No. 63 Oregon Team Lamborghini, beating the Team Motopark duo of Siebert and Diego Menchaca.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2 (provisional)

Walkenhorst Dominates NLS Double-Header

Walkenhorst Motorsport drivers Christian Krognes and Jakub Giermaziak swept both of last weekend’s six-hour NLS to continue BMW’s strong season at the Nordschleife.

The No. 34 BMW M4 GT3 started Saturday’s contest from the back of the first starting group after an accident in practice, but gradually moved through the 13-car SP9 field.

It overcame both Falken Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Rs en route to a 1-minute, 26-second margin of victory over David Pittard and Klaus Bachler.

The No. 4 Falken car completed the podium despite an accident for Dennis Fetzer at Hatzenbach with 80 minutes remaining.

In the second race, Krognes and Giermaziak won by an even bigger gap as they led home a Walkenhorst one-two with Dylan Pereira and Niklas Kruetten finishing almost three minutes behind.

Frank Stippler took an early lead, but his Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II encountered tire damage and dropped back as the Walkenhorst BMWs came to the fore.

BMW has now won six out of seven NLS races this season, including three victories for Giermaziak and four for Krognes.

RESULTS: ADAC ACAS Cup / DMV Reinoldus

Century BMW Wins Battle of Brands

BMW also had a successful weekend at Brands Hatch where the Century Motorsport pairing of Darren Leung and Dan Harper won the penultimate round of the Intelligent Money British GT Championship season.

BMW factory driver Harper overtook Aston Martin counterpart Ross Gunn during the second stint and resisted Gunn’s return fire at the end to win by just over a second.

It marked Harper and Leung’s second win of the campaign after the Silverstone 500, and their third in total as a partnership.

James Cottingham made a strong start from the front row of the grid in 2 Seas Motorsport’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo but his ability to extend the lead was impacted by two safety car periods in the opening stint.

That played into the hands of third-placed Andrew Howard’s Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Leung in fourth, because the two cars ahead including the 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG needed to serve compensation time in the pits.

Their respective co-drivers Gunn and Harper emerged in first and second but the positions changed when Harper squeezed through on the inside at Westfield with just under half an hour to go.

Cottingham and Jonny Adam completed the podium and will head to the Donington Park season finale with a 13-point advantage over Leung and Harper.

RESULTS: Brands Hatch

Landgraf Plots Sachsenring Sweep

Salman Owega and Elias Seppanen launched into a 31-point lead in ADAC GT Masters by winning both 60-minute races at Sachsenring for Landgraf Motorsport.

Owega started the opening contest from pole and stretched 14 seconds clear of Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini driver Benjamin Hites once the pit window opened.

Seppanen picked up from where his co-driver left off, although a spin into the gravel for Nico Menzel caused a late safety car that bunched the field.

However, during the last-lap dash, Seppanen was set free by a charge from Maximilian Goetz who put the BMW M4 GT3 of second-placed Ben Green under pressure.

Goetz made a strong start to Race 2 before handing the No. 3 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG over to Petru Umbrarescu, but a drive-through penalty for a pit stop infringement resulted in a change of lead in Owega’s favor.

The Landgraf driver crossed the line 21 seconds clear of Hites and Marco Mapelli but said that it wasn’t an entirely straightforward run.

“Towards the end of the race, I struggled with vibrations in the car, which worried me,” recalled Owega.

“Thanks to my race engineer on the radio, I stayed cool and didn’t take any big risks.”

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2

Other Racing Action & News

***Hugo Sasse and Mike David Ortmann continued their march towards the ADAC GT4 Germany title by winning both races at the Sachsenring in their PROSport Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Race 1 / Race 2

***GT3 debutant Andy Deng won both of the GT Super Sprint Challenge races at Shanghai International Circuit in a Winhere by HAR Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II. Hu Bo finished second and third to continue leading the in-house Audi Sport Asia Trophy standings.

***Last weekend’s NLS round formed part of the Red Bull Formula Nürburgring event which brought an array of Formula 1 cars to the Nordschleife. There was also a dynamic display of several classic racing BMWs including a V12 LMR sports prototype driven by former BMW M CEO Markus Flasch, an M1 Procar with HRH Prince Leopold of Bavaria at the wheel, and a Z4 GT3 driven by Philipp Eng.

***The Ultimate Cup Series was in action at Estoril, where the four-hour prototype race produced a final-corner pass for the lead and a 0.143-second winning margin. Team Virage fitted Manuel Espirito Santo’s Ligier JS P320 Nissan with rain tires and, when the drizzle started, he tore into the 20-second lead held by Pierre Courroye’s Nova Proto 02 before snatching a win at the end.

On this weekend: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (Indianapolis), Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup (Valencia), Super GT (Sugo), 24H Series (Barcelona)

Davey Euwema contributed to this report