Goethe Holds Off Engstler to Win Magny-Cours Race 2

Marvin Kirchhoefer and Benjamin Goethe became the first repeat winners of the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season, closing up to within 1.5 points of the championship lead by winning Race 2 at Magny-Cours.

The No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo beat the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Jordan Pepper and Luca Engstler in a photo finish after a race-long battle, with the two cars separated by just 0.156 seconds at the line.

In the process, Kirchhoefer and Goethe became the first pairing this season to win more than one race, ending a run of seven consecutive races where a different car took the overall victory. The previous win for the Garage 59 duo came during Race 2 at Misano.

Kirchhoefer started the race from pole position, keeping Pepper’s No. 63 Lamborghini at bay before the two drivers pitted to hand over to each of their respective co-drivers.

The fight for the lead continued to rage on with Goethe and Engstler installed at the wheel of the two cars, with the two drivers making contact on multiple occasions.

Engstler initially appeared to have a move completed when he pulled alongside Goethe exiting the Adelaide hairpin, only for Goethe to retain first place when he took to the runoff after the two cars ran side-by-side into the Nürburgring chicane.

From there, the No. 59 McLaren kept the chasing Lamborghini at bay for the rest of the race, although Engstler nearly beat Goethe to the line in a drag race out of the final chicane.

Their victory has allowed Kirchhoefer and Goethe to close the points gap to the leading No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO to just 1.5 points going into the Valencia finale, which is scheduled for Sept. 19-21.

Similarly to Saturday’s Race 1, Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts finished third, thanks in part to a strong start from Van der Linde that saw the South African move up to fourth at the start.

That became third when the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 suffered a right rear puncture on its outlap when Chris Lulham came to blows with AF Corse driver Thomas Neubauer.

AF Corse’s sister Ferrari, driven by Vincent Abril and Alessio Rovera, finished fourth, with Sven Mueller and Patric Niederhauser completing the top five in the No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Maxime Martin and Luca Stolz came home in sixth aboard the No. 9 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, one place ahead of the Winward Racing-entered example driven by Maro Engel and Lucas Auer.

Gilles Magnus and Paul Evrard picked up the Gold Cup victory in eighth overall with their No. 25 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, one spot ahead of the Silver Cup-winning No. 21 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

The No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer completed the top ten, having been promoted after the No. 78 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini was dropped from seventh to 11th due to a Full Course Yellow infringement.

The Bronze Cup victory went to the No. 81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG driven by Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst in 23rd overall.

RESULTS: Race 2