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GT World Challenge Europe

Brands Hatch Weekend Notebook

Daniel Lloyd’s notebook from the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup opener at Brands Hatch…

Photo: Photo: Jules Benichou/21 Creation

***Christopher Mies claimed his first Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup pole in almost eight years by setting the pace in qualifying for Sunday’s second race at Brands Hatch. The Audi Sport factory driver contended with a faulty radio link in his No. 27 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II and only learned about the result when he returned to the garage and met his team.

***The No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 lost its second-row start for Race 2 after Giacomo Altoe was deemed to have impeded Timur Boguslavskiy during the second qualifying session. A stewards’ report stated that Altoe, who was demoted from third on the grid to sixth, slowed on the racing line through Clark Curve as Boguslavskiy was winding up for a flying lap.

***The penalty provisionally moves the No. 25 Sainteloc Audi up to third on the grid and the No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 to the second row. Only the Race 1 starting grid has been published so far.

***Nonetheless, former Lamborghini factory driver Altoe was encouraged by Emil Frey’s strong pace ahead of its debut with the Ferrari 296 GT3. The Swiss team, which changed from Lamborghini to Ferrari over the winter, qualified second and third for Race 1.

***Altoe said: “It’s our first race so we really had no clue about our position and our potential. We would be happy if we could do top 10, and to be up there is really good. We don’t know where we are with the race pace because we were focusing only on quali runs today.”

***The No. 28 Nova Race Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 was handed a three-position grid drop for the second race, after Jacopo Guidetti improved his first-sector time in qualifying while yellow flags were shown during Lorenzo Patrese’s trip into the gravel.

***Several cars received weight adjustments in a Balance of Performance change after qualifying. The BMW M4 GT3, the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 were given 15 kg reductions, while the Honda NSX GT3 Evo22 had 10 kg removed. There were also 5 kg reductions for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 and Porsche 911 GT3 R.

***Akkodis ASP is fielding a single-car entry in a GTWC Europe round for the first time since 2015 when it ran a lone Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 at Spa. The French team will introduce a second Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo when the Bronze Cup arrives at Misano.

***It is also adding a third Mercedes-AMG to its two-car Endurance Cup stable for the second round of the season at Paul Ricard, as well as the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and the Barcelona season finale. Brazilian drivers Rodrigo, Bruno and Adalberto Baptista will share the No. 89 machine.

***ASP team boss Jerome Policand anticipates a tougher task for Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy to win races overall considering all-Platinum lineups are allowed back in Sprint Cup. “We have to do no mistakes,” Policand told Sportscar365. “It will be tough because they open [up to two] platinum drivers now. Last year our lineup was very strong.”

***Boguslavskiy is one of several drivers whose FIA rating has been adjusted by series organizer SRO Motorsports Group. Frederic Vervisch and Christian Engelhart, who are teamed up with Silver-rated drivers, have gone from Gold to Platinum so their entries can compete in Pro rather than Gold Cup, which permits a Gold and a Silver. Aurelien Panis, Gilles Magnus, Konsta Lappalainen and Boguslavskiy have been adjusted from Silver to Gold for similar reasons.

***The Sprint Cup is visiting Brands Hatch for the ninth time. At least two more visits are guaranteed after circuit owner MSV and SRO recently signed an extension of their agreement through 2025.

***Nova Race has a small number of JAS Motorsport personnel assisting its two-car program with the Honda, which is making its Sprint Cup debut. Team manager Christian Pescatori told Sportscar365 that it has been the Italian squad’s “dream” to step up to the European stage.

***However, Pescatori also noted that graduating to a higher level represents a significant increase in budget that impacted Nova Race’s pre-season testing. “We did two days at Le Castellet, and another in Misano and Cremona,” he said. “We push a lot and put a lot of money in this program, but it’s not a lot to stay with the bigger teams.”

***Nova Race purchased the No. 28 Honda second-hand, but with limited mileage, in November alongside the three NSXs it already had. The team will use separate cars for its Italian GT and Sprint Cup programs.

***Monster Energy will set up a fan entertainment zone at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, following an agreement between the energy drinks company and event organizers. Attractions include a demonstration from 10-time Belgian trials champion Fred Crosset.

***Team WRT is giving BMW its first Sprint Cup appearance since 2018, and the manufacturer’s first Pro-class outing since 2017 when ROWE Racing fielded a pair of BMW M6 GT3s. Maxime Martin, who is racing this weekend, and Dirk Mueller earned BMW’s last Sprint Cup win back in 2015 when the Z4 GT3 was still active.

***WRT’s first track test with the BMW M Hybrid V8 has been delayed slightly, Sportscar365 understands. LMDh testing for next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship season is now set to start in mid-June at the earliest, rather than May as initially reported.

***Valentino Rossi was one of several drivers who got “a bit unlucky” when Christian Engelhart went off in Qualifying 1, causing a yellow flag zone and a session stoppage. Rossi reckoned he could have finished closer to the top 10 than the 20th place he ended up with.

***The Italian’s co-driver Martin fared better in the second qualifying session, putting the No. 46 BMW in the top five. “We can use the first race to improve the settings of the car and be stronger for the second race,” said Rossi.

***Italian team GSM is fielding an older-specification Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo, while Vincenzo Sospiri Racing’s trio of cars have all been upgraded to the latest EVO2 model.

***GSM driver Fernando Croce is making his first GT3 appearance since 2013 when he drove a Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3 in the South American GT Championship. His co-driver Nicholas Risitano is a GT3 debutant who most recently piloted Ferrari Challenge machinery and has also competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

***Brands Hatch is one of three Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS race meetings taking place this weekend. The Asian series is staging its season-opener at Buriram in Thailand, while GTWC Australia is racing at Phillip Island.

***Heading into the tri-event weekend, and before the first Asian race took place on Saturday, Porsche led the global GTWC manufacturers’ standings with 3,144 points. Reigning champion Mercedes-AMG was second on 3,077 with Audi Sport third on 2,626. Points are given to each manufacturer’s top-scoring car in each class and multiplied by the number of cars competing in that class.

***The first race of the Sprint Cup season starts at 11:05 a.m. U.K. time (6:05 a.m. ET) on Sunday. Race 2 is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. (11:10 a.m. ET). Both races will be shown live on the GT World YouTube channel and on Sky Sports F1 for the local market.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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