Weekly Racing Roundup (6.27.22)

Double Victory for Emil Frey at Zandvoort

Emil Frey Racing swept the ADAC GT Masters round at Zandvoort with two different pairings, as the Swiss team picked up its first victories in the German championship.

Mick Wishofer and Konsta Lappalainen won the opening 60-minute race in their No. 14 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, before Jack Aitken and Albert Costa prevailed in Race 2 sharing the No. 63 Lamborghini.

Light rain before the start of Race 1 produced tricky conditions, as most of the field opted to use slick tires on a damp surface.

Pole-sitter Wishofer carefully managed to fend off Ezequiel Companc’s Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the first corner and extended his Lamborghini’s lead to eight seconds when he handed over to Lappalainen.

The Finnish driver kept Emil Frey in front until the checkered flag, while Dennis Marschall and Kim Luis Schramm climbed from eight on the grid to take second.

It was then the turn of another Emil Frey Racing duo to take victory in the second race of the weekend.

Aitken put the No. 63 Lamborghini on pole and made a confident start, leading throughout the opening stint to give Costa a three-second advantage after the stops.

Costa kept Car Collection Audi driver Thierry Vermeulen at arm’s length to seal the win, while the third Emil Frey crew of Arthur Rougier and Franck Perera reached the podium on the final lap after Christian Engelhart’s Porsche 911 GT3 R ground to a halt.

Despite that drama, Engelhart and Ayhancan Guven are joint-first in the drivers’ championship on 70 points, alongside Land-Motorsport’s Jusuf Owega whose Audi did not take the start of Race 2.

Emil Frey Racing’s double victory was reminiscent of its identical result in last year’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup meeting at Zandvoort.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2 / Standings

Loggie Continues to Lead British GT after Snetterton

Ian Loggie maintained his lead in the Intelligent Money British GT Championship standings after the double-header weekend at Snetterton that included a win for the RAM Racing driver.

Loggie and Callum MacLeod won the 60-minute opener in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo after fellow Mercedes-AMG squad 2 Seas Motorsport lost its lead with six minutes left due to a puncture.

The RAM car started from the pole, but Loggie didn’t manage to increase the gap over 2 Seas driver Flick Haigh so that his team negated a five-second success penalty.

2 Seas therefore jumped RAM in the pits, with Jonny Adam taking over from Haigh and MacLeod stepping in for Loggie.

The tire issue for Adam’s Mercedes-AMG dramatically dropped 2 Seas out of contention, while MacLeod held off WPI Motorsport Lamborghini driver Phil Keen to win.

Race 2 was also won by a RAM Racing crew, but this time it was the No. 15 pairing of John Ferguson and Ulysse de Pauw.

De Pauw, who has signed on with RAM for the rest of the season, claimed pole and led away from MacLeod.

Sandy Mitchell went on an early charge in his Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini and moved past MacLeod for second, as de Pauw enjoyed a five-second cushion.

After the pit stops, Mitchell’s co-driver Adam Balon edged closer to Ferguson, but the RAM driver held on to take his first career British GT win by 0.3 seconds.

RESULTS: Race 1 / Race 2 / Standings

Phoenix Racing Wins Again at Nürburgring

One month on from its Nürburgring 24 victory, Phoenix Racing prevailed again at the Nordschleife by taking victory in the third round of the NLS season.

Jakub Giermaziak and Rene Rast teamed up to win Saturday’s four-hour event in the No. 16 Scherer Sport Team Phoenix machine, giving the Evo II-specification Audi its first outright NLS triumph.

Christian Krognes battled with Rast in the closing stages, but the three-time DTM champion held on to win by just under five seconds.

Rast emerged from his final pit stop just behind Krognes in the No. 34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 but made a brave move around the Norwegian at the end of the Dottinger Hohe before sternly resisting any comeback attempts.

Krognes shared second place with Sami-Matti Trogen, while Vincent Kolb and Frank Stippler completed the podium in another Phoenix Audi.

The No. 6 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG was a podium contender for much of the race until it picked up a puncture on the Dottinger Hohe and retired.

That left Landgraf Motorsport as the highest-placed Mercedes-AMG entrant in fourth, almost three minutes behind the winning Audi.

RESULTS: DMV Grenzlandrennen

Other Racing Action & News

***Sports car racing stars descended on Goodwood for the annual Festival of Speed. FIA World Endurance Championship driver Richard Lietz finished second in Sunday’s timed shootout, driving the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance and finishing behind the record-breaking McMurtry Automotive Speirling with Max Chilton behind the wheel. Results

***The FFSA French GT Championship was in action at Albi last weekend. Hugo Chevalier and Enzo Joulie won an incident-filled opener in their Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT4, while the L’Espace Bienvenue BMW pairing of Benjamin Lessennes and Ricardo van der Ende took the honors in the second contest. Race 1 / Race 2

***Angus Fender has withdrawn from the British GT season after starting the campaign alongside Betty Chen in the Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. Joel Eriksson stepped in at Snetterton last weekend. Fender said: “It’s always hard when sponsors pull out, especially mid-season, but I want to thank those that continue to stand by me while we regroup and plan for next year.”

***Toyota Gazoo Racing made its NLS return last weekend with a Lexus LC and will add a Toyota GR86 to its stable for the pair of six-hour races in September. Tatsuya Kataoka, Masahiro Sasaki, Daisuke Toyoda and Kenta Yamashita will drive the GR86 while the Lexus lineup consists of Hiroaki Ishiura, Kazuya Oshima, Takamitsu Matsui and Naoya Gamou.

***Furthermore, Toyota Gazoo Racing has been named as the official safety car partner for GTWC Asia, which heads to Japan for a quartet of rounds next month. The Supra safety car performed formation lap duties at the Sepang season-opener.

***The Saleen S1 GT4 has received homologation approval by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium for SRO Motorsports Group competition, according to an official technical form seen by Sportscar365. The approval was granted on June 1.

***Mike Simpson has been appointed Ginetta’s Head of Motorsport and will step down from his factory driver role as a result. Simpson drove for the factory Ginetta LMP1 team and maintained a commercial role alongside his behind-the-wheel projects but will now oversee all of the British company’s track-related endeavors.

***Ginetta chairman Lawrence Tomlinson commented: “Mike has been a loyal and dedicated member of our team for well over a decade now. His professionalism as a racing driver and coach, alongside his knowledge of Ginetta and the motorsport industry, made him the obvious candidate to head up our motorsport programs. We’re excited to see what the future holds.”

On this weekend: IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), European Le Mans Series (Monza), Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup, Fanatec GT2 European Series, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe (Misano), DTM (Norisring)