Garage 59 Penalized But Keeps Win, Lionspeed Demoted

The Gold Cup Garage 59 McLaren of Tom Fleming and Louis Prette has kept its outright victory in the opening GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup race at Zandvoort despite being penalized for an unsafe release, while the Lionspeed Porsche that had moved into the overall points lead has also been sanctioned.

It had looked like Fleming and Prette at the wheel of the No. 58 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo might lose the first overall win for a Gold crew in Sprint Cup history after Fleming grabbed the lead at the start.

Two hours after the conclusion of the race, Garage 59 was summoned to meet officials after Boutsen VDS had protested an unsafe release during the mandatory pit stop phase.

Prette had entered the fast lane immediately into the path of Dorian Boccolacci in the No. 2 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo with the two cars briefly running side by side with the McLaren fractionally ahead.

Prette was able to keep Boccolacci behind for the remainder of the race, finishing 0.676 seconds in front, but the McLaren crew has now been handed a five-second penalty for the unsafe release.

However, the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche of Boccolacci and Morris Schuring also picked up a five-second penalty of its own after a mechanic was found to have still been in the working area when the car returned to the fast lane after its stop.

The penalties do not affect either car’s overall position thanks to an intense battle behind for the final spot on the podium.

But a penalty of greater significance was applied to the No. 80 Lionspeed GP Porsche of Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller that had finished fifth on the road to seemingly move into the overall points lead as the No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO that arrived at Zandvoort at the head of the table retired with a loss of water pressure.

However, Buus was found to have loosened his belts while at the wheel and was handed a drive-through penalty converted to a 29-second sanction that dropped the Lionspeed pair to 23rd spot.

This therefore means Dani Juncadella aboard the No. 3 Verstappen Racing 2 Seas-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo has moved a point clear of the WRT duo Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts at the summit of the standings, thanks to a charging drive from teammate Chris Lulham that netted sixth on the last lap (which became fifth after Lionspeed’s penalty).

FINAL RESULTS: Race 1