Feller, Drudi Take Race 2 Victory as Rossi Finishes Second

Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi won the second Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup race at Brands Hatch for the Tresor Orange 1 Audi squad as Valentino Rossi claimed his first overall podium in the series.

Audi Sport factory drivers Feller and Drudi rose from seventh on the grid to take victory in Sunday’s second 60-minute contest, with their No. 40 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II finishing ahead of two BMW M4 GT3s from Team WRT including the one driven by Rossi.

The former MotoGP star claimed second after his co-driver Maxime Martin ran third during the opening stint and WRT’s No. 46 entry gained a position during the pit stops.

Rossi then held off his teammate and reigning Sprint Cup champion Charles Weerts, triggering jubilation in the WRT garage when he crossed the line after arguably his strongest GT3 drive to date.

Christopher Mies led the opening stint from pole position in the No. 27 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi, with Comtoyou Racing Audi driver Christopher Haase in second and Martin third.

Feller overtook Giacomo Altoe for sixth on the first lap and kept within sight of Gilles Magnus’ Comtoyou Audi and the Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Nicolai Kjaergaard in a closely-matched group.

Mies had a two-second advantage over Haase when the field was contracted by a safety car period after 19 minutes when Alberto di Folco spun into the Sheene Curve gravel.

The safety car’s timing resulted in the mid-race pit window being delayed by two minutes, enabling a burst of green flag running before the driver swaps commenced.

Mies stayed out until the end of the window before handing the No. 27 Audi over to Gregoire Demoustier, but a slow pit stop caused Sainteloc to lose several positions followed by an off-track moment at Sheene for the second driver.

Instead, early pitter Tresor Orange 1 cycled to the lead with Drudi, who had moved his Attempto Racing-prepared Audi past Rossi courtesy of the uncercut approach.

Drudi controlled the remainder of the race, drawing 3.7 seconds clear of Rossi as the Italian focused on defending second place from Weerts and Benjamin Goethe in the McLaren.

Weerts and Dries Vanthoor rose from 13th on the grid but also made gains during the pit sequence as the No. 32 WRT crew benefited from pitting at the first chance.

Lucas Legeret finished fifth in the Comtoyou Audi started by Haase after holding off a charging Raffaele Marciello, who won the opening race of the day with Timur Boguslavskiy.

The No. 88 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo from Akkodis ASP started 19th on the grid for Race 2 but positional advances from both drivers and a fast pit stop contributed to a points finish.

The Gold Cup-winning No. 30 WRT BMW pairing of Calan Williams and Niklas Kruetten came through in seventh overall, ahead of the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 shared by Altoe and Konsta Lappalainen.

Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lamborghini drivers Baptiste Moulin and Marcus Paverud won the Silver Cup class after the Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

RESULTS: Race 2