Muehlner’s Kranz, De Wilde Win Race 2; Last-Lap Drama in GT3

Photo: Le Mans Cup

Muehlner Motorsport scored a commanding victory in the second Road to Le Mans race with a lights-to-flag win for Moritz Kranz and Ugo de Wilde.

De Wilde took the team’s No. 21 Duqueine D08 Nissan to a 11.069-second win over the No. 19 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Niklas Kruetten, who made a late charge to come home second.

Kruetten got around the No. 11 WTM Powered by Phoenix Duqueine of Leonard Weiss with five laps to go in the 13-lap contest.

Weiss was then given a drive-through penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap but ultimately did not serve it during the race. 

Muehlner’s Kranz led from the green and stretched out into a ten-second lead prior to pitting to De Wilde on Lap 5, in what came as a flawless run for the Belgian squad.

The No. 14 RLR MSport Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen finished third ahead of the No. 66 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine in fourth.

Garett Grist completed the top-five in the No. 71 Team Virage Ligier, meanwhile.

A late Slow Zone for the No. 27 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Max Koebolt, who went off at Indianapolis, was one of a number of incidents to occur in the race, which ran to its full scheduled distance.

It included an accident by the No. 22 United Autosports Ligier of Scott Andrews, who clouted the tire barriers at Tertre Rouge on the final lap.

GT3 class honors went the No. 2 Pzoberer Zurichsee by TFT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Julien Andlauer and Nicolas Leutwiler after last-lap drama for the No. 8 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Logan Sargeant.

Sargeant and his co-driver Rory Penttinen dominated the race until the FIA Formula 3 race-winner got caught up in traffic on the final lap, letting the Porsche factory driver by in dramatic fashion. 

Andlauer crossed the line 0.651 seconds ahead of the young American.

The No. 95 Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 emerged as the class leader following the round of pit stops until reigning Pirelli GT4 America Am class champion Michael Dinan spun at the second chicane.

The No. 72 Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo of Charles Weerts and Jean-Denis Deletraz completed the class podium in third, with Dinan dropping to fifth at the line in the car started by Ahmad Al Harthy.

RESULTS: Race 2

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John