Rinaldi Ferrari Dominates Misano Main Race

Marco Seefried and Norbert Siedler took a dominant win in the Blancpain Sprint Series Main Race at Misano, giving the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 458 Italia its second victory of the weekend.

The No. 63 GRT Lamborghini Huracan of GT3 rookie Patrick Kujala took the lead at the start, passing the Rinaldi Ferrari on the outside of Turn 1, but it didn’t take long for Seefried to retake the position.

While the German opened up a gap at the front of the field, Kujala’s Lamborghini then came under pressure of Maxi Buhk’s Bentley Team HTP Continental GT3, which got off to a great start from seventh on the grid.

It took Buhk 10 minutes to find a way past the Fin’s Lamborghini, by that time the Ferrari was already four seconds up ahead.

The Lamborghini lost a position during the pitstops, which Mirko Bortolotti was able to recover as Valdeno Brito made a small mistake in the No. 77 Team Brasil BMW Z4 GT3.

At the head of the field there was no match for Siedler, who opened up a comfortable gap in the Rinaldi Ferrari, crossing the line with a 7.036s margin on Vincent Abril in the HTP Bentley, followed by Bortolotti’s GRT Lamborghini in third.

Craig Dolby was a man on a mission in the second part of the race, the Brit’s Always Evolving Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 regularly posting fastest sector times and battling hard with the Brazilian BMWs.

Dolby first passed Sergio Jiminez in the No. 0 Z4 GT3, but had to settle for fifth after launching several attacks on Valdeno Brito’s  No. 77 BMW.

The absence of series’ leaders Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns following last night’s crash means Buhk and Abril are now back in the title hunt and only face an eight-point gap heading to Zandvoort next weekend.

Seefried and Siedler also still have a decent shot and are now only 17 points adrift, with 34 still up for grabs in the Dutch dunes, though Seefried will be competing at Fuji next weekend.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT was able to secure the Blancpain Sprint Series teams’ title one round early, despite their first car, the No. 3 Audi R8 LMS ultra of Stéphane Ortelli and Stéphane Richelmi, only finishing seventh in front of the sister No. 2 entry.

RESULTS: Main Race