Schubert BMW Wins Slovakia Ring Main Race

Dominik Baumann and Thomas Jäger have won the Blancpain Sprint Series Main Race at the Slovakia Ring, having started from 19th on the grid.

Cesar Ramos started from pole position, but as the lights went green the No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra dropped down the order.

Into turn one the Brazilian braked late, triggering a first corner incident that took out title candidate Hari Proczyk, Fabian Hamprecht and Mattheus Stumpf .

A couple of corners later Niki Mayr-Melnhof hit the barriers, sending him into retirement. Alex Zanardi retired at the end of lap one, the Italian managed to bring his car.

Nico Verdonk took the lead, chased by Caca Bueno in the No. 0 BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil BMW Z4 GT3. The pair was within a couple of tenths until the pit window opened.

HTP Motorsport brought the No. 84 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 in first, handing over the lead to Bueno. The Brazilian, however, pitted on the next lap and teammate Sergio Jimenez rejoined right behind Maximilian Götz.

Götz ran wide at the last corner on lap 18, which allowed Jimenez to move into the lead and immediately pull away from the Mercedes.

Dominik Baumann in the No. 76 BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 was the next driver to catch Götz. As soon as he had passed Götz, Baumann went after Jimenez.

With eight minutes to go Baumann had closed the gap to the Brazilian, looking for a place to pass the No. 0 BMW.

On the penultimate lap Jimenez suddenly slowed down for a moment, due to a fuel pressure problem. Baumann moved to the left, taking over the lead of the race. Jimenez was unable to fight back and one lap later Baumann crossed the line to take victory.

René Rast passed Maximilian Götz on the last lap, taking the final podium finish. HTP Motorsport finished fourth, fifth and sixth.