Barcelona Opener Red-Flagged Amid Worsening Rain

The opening race of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Barcelona season finale has been red-flagged at its mid-point amid worsening weather conditions.

While qualifying on Saturday morning was held in the dry, the rain began to fall shortly before the start of the hour-long contest.

The drivers initially dealt well with the tricky conditions as there was just a brief safety car for a tangle between the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Thomas Neubauer, who entered the weekend second in the standings, and the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Ariel Levi.

The race resumed, but then the No. 55 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Loris Cabirou skated off at Turn 3 with 30 minutes on the clock and, with the weather conditions worsening, race director Niels Wittich decided to red flag the contest in order to safely recover the car.

The stoppage came at an awkward time as the Pro and Gold Cup cars had made their mandatory stops but only some of the Silver and Bronze cars had pitted.

The Bronze Cup Kessel Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Dennis Marschall had been flying in the wet and held the lead even before the pit stops began.