Emil Frey Ferrari Stripped of Valencia Race 1 Victory

Emil Frey Racing has been stripped of its overall victory in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Race 1 at Valencia as part of a host of post-race penalties issued for yellow flag infringements.

Chris Lulham and Thierry Vermeulen initially made history on Saturday as the first Gold Cup entrants to take overall victory in GTWC Europe in the first of this weekend’s 60-minute contests at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

However, a stewards’ bulletin issued on Saturday evening outlines that Lulham was found to have ‘improved his best time at sector two under yellow flags at Turn 9,’ which constitutes a breach of Article 27.1 of the GTWC Europe sporting regulations.

As a result, the No. 69 Ferrari was given a drivethrough penalty converted to a 26-second penalty added to the elapsed race time, with Lulham also receiving one behaviour warning point.

This, in turn, promotes the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Luca Engstler and Jordan Pepper to the overall victory.

Meanwhile, Garage 59 pairing Thomas Fleming and Louis Prette inherit the Gold Cup class victory. Lulham and Vermeulen drop to second in class, as the No. 111 CSA Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo received a similar penalty.

Identical penalties were also given out to a significant number of other cars, with over half of the top ten finishers affected.

Notably, the No. 21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo was penalized, although Kobe Pauwels and Jamie Day will still clinch the Silver Cup title with a race to spare despite losing the class win.

This is because the second-placed No. 992 Paradine Competition BMW was also penalized, which in turn promoted the No. 30 Team WRT BMW of Gilles Stadsbader and Matisse Lismont to the class victory.

However, as the three chasing crews from Boutsen VDS, Tresor Attempto Racing and Sainteloc Racing all retired from the race, Pauwels and Day still managed to extend their championship lead by a sufficient enough margin to win the championship.

Amongst the other cars to have been affected were the No. 777 Al Manar Racing by WRT BMW, No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, all three of AF Corse’s Ferraris, the No. 35 Walkenhorst Racing Aston Martin and the pair of Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs.