Drudi, Feller Win Sprint Cup Title with Zandvoort Sweep

Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi sealed their first Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup title by taking back-to-back Zandvoort victories, while rivals Akkodis ASP retired following a collision on the opening lap.

The No. 40 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II finished 3.563 seconds clear of the No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts to win, with newly crowned Gold Cup champions Calan Williams and Niklas Kruetten completing the podium.

It marked the first Sprint Cup title for the Swiss-Italian duo, while it brought an end to a streak of three consecutive championships for Vanthoor and Weerts.

The No. 40 crew also became the first team to complete a weekend sweep of overall victories this season, bringing their win tally to four following previous triumphs at Misano and Hockenheim.

Drudi started the race behind direct title rivals Akkodis ASP, but the No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo retired from damage sustained on a collision on the opening lap.

Timur Boguslavskiy ran ahead of Drudi when he was tagged into a spin by Tresor Attempto Racing driver Lorenzo Patrese at the Hans Ernst Bocht.

The stationary Mercedes was then collected by the No. 68 Nova Race Honda NSX GT3 Evo22, inflicting damage to the left front as well as the rear body work leading to its retirement and deciding the title battle in favor of Drudi and Feller.

The arrival of rain close to the pit window then led to two lead changes in a single lap. First, race leader Maxime Martin slid the No. 46 BMW off the track at Turn 1, allowing Haupt Racing Team’s Jordan Love to go through.

Love made a similar error in the treacherous conditions later in the lap, which allowed the No. 30 Team WRT machine of Calan Williams through into first place before Erwan Bastard spun into the gravel and triggered a Full Course Yellow.

The neutralization lasted for the entire pit window, which saw the No. 40 Audi leap up from sixth to third when Feller took over from Drudi.

After the restart, the Swiss driver quickly overtook Valentino Rossi’s No. 46 car for second place before storming past Kruetten around the outside of the Kumhobocht to take the lead of the race with 20 minutes remaining.

Vanthoor’s No. 32 BMW later made its way into second, but did receive a five-second penalty for overtaking Emil Frey Racing’s Konsta Lappalainen before the safety car line on the second restart. The margin to third place, however, was large enough for Vanthoor and Weerts to keep the position.

Andrea Caldarelli completed a late pass on Lappalainen at the Tarzanbocht to take the No. 60 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 he shares with Marco Mapelli into fourth place.

Lappalainen and Giacomo Altoe finished fifth aboard the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, ahead of the No. 77 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes and the No. 46 Team WRT BMW.

Albert Costa and Thierry Vermeulen picked up eighth aboard the No. 69 Ferrari, with the No. 159 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo and No. 44 CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R rounding out the top ten.

Gold, Silver Cup Champions Crowned

Niklas Kruetten and Calan Williams claimed the Gold Cup title for Team WRT, while HRT’s Jordan Love won the title in Silver Cup.

Kruetten and Williams came into the final race of the season narrowly trailing the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Audi of Alberto di Folco and Aurelien Panis.

However, as the Team WRT converted a front row start to class victory, a third-place finish for Di Folco and Panis meant the No. 30 crew were crowned the inaugural Gold Cup champions.

Jordan Love, meanwhile, beat Alex Aka and Lorenzo Patrese to the championship in Silver Cup.

The Australian was put on course for the title thanks to Patrese’s spin into the gravel in the opening exchanges and secured the championship by coming home in sixth overall in the car he shares with Frank Bird.

Bird, however, was not crowned champion as he was absent from the Hockenheim and Valencia rounds for personal reasons.

Love succeeds the AF Corse duo of Love Pierre-Alexandre Jean and Ulysse de Pauw as Silver Cup champion.

RESULTS: Race 2