Gold Cup Audi Wins Crazy Race As Buus, Feller Secure Title

The Gold Cup Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Dylan Pereira and Alex Aka took outright victory in a crazy GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup race at Barcelona while Lionspeed Porsche duo Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller claimed the overall Sprint title.

The No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi looked quick in the wet, having only qualified in 14th place, and was able to pounce when there was a late penalty for the Boutsen VDS Porsche that was leading.

But second place for Buus and Feller, while their title rivals endured a miserable day, was enough for them to provisionally take the crown after a race that featured a never-ending sequence of twists and turns.

There was already a jumbled order on the grid as the Silver and Bronze Cup competitors enjoyed the pick of the conditions in qualifying.

But the form book turned on its head with rain arriving a few minutes before the beginning of the race and polesitter Buus was extremely cautious at the start.

Kiern Jewiss in the Bronze No. 222 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo went around the outside of Buus at the first corner to grab the lead, as the Porsche soon plummeted to fifth.

But one of the drivers on the move in the opening laps was Dennis Marschall in the No. 74 Kessel Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo that started seventh.

He was quickly onto Jewiss’ tail but, after the pair made contact at Turn 5 on lap four, Marschall then successful passed the Mercedes-AMG around the outside of the same corner on the next tour.

Marschall then blasted clear after a brief safety car period following a tangle involving the title-contending No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Neubauer and the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi of Ariel Levi.

The Kessel Ferrari had pulled four seconds clear on the first green-flag racing lap of racing, while further back Lucas Auer was on a charge in the No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG as he gained 14 places in the opening stint from 20th on the grid.

It had therefore looked like the Winward crew and the No. 2 Boutsen VDS Porsche would battle for the outright victory once the Bronze cars at the front had served their longer mandatory stops.

But the race then turned on its head again when it was red-flagged during the pit window with Loris Cabirou’s Dinamic GT Porsche off in the worsening conditions.

While the Pro and Gold cars had already served their stops, the Silver and Bronzes were mid-way through their pit visits and the No. 74 Ferrari, No. 222 Mercedes-AMG and the No. 991 Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 EVO effectively got a free stop.

Constantin Dressler, standing in for an unwell Dustin Blattner in the No. 74 Ferrari, therefore led upon the resumption and put in a brilliant defense from Dorian Boccolacci in the No. 2 Porsche as Charles Dawson in the 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG and Darren Leung in the Paradine BMW delayed each other battling.

Dressler resisted Boccolacci for a couple of laps before his defence was breached at Turn 6 with Aka then pouncing on the next lap.

It had therefore seemed like Boutsen VDS would take a first victory of the season but there was to be another twist as the Porsche crew was handed a stop-and-hold penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane when Boccolacci was sent on his way into the path of the No. 14 Emil Frey Ferrari, which was spun into retirement.

This meant the Audi crew was able to triumph overall despite Feller closing to finish only 0.789 seconds adrift at the flag.

It had appeared that a charging second stint from Chris Lulham would keep Dani Juncadella’s faint title hopes alive in the No. 3 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG but Lulham spun with a couple of laps to go and that, combined with the No. 50’s retirement and the No. 32 WRT BMW only finishing tenth, was enough for Lionspeed to be sure of the crown.

The Lamborghini Temarario GT3 scored its second outright podium in the series as Patric Niederhauser and Luca Engstler starred in the wet to finish third for Rutronik Racing, while the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo was a surprise fourth in the hands of stand-in Joseph Loake and Dean Macdonald.

Despite Dressler’s heroics, he did not finish as the top Bronze as the Ziggo Sport Tempesta Racing Porsche of Peter Dempsey and Eddie Cheever III that won twice at Zandvoort passed the Ferrari with a couple of laps to go to take fifth overall.

That result was not quite enough for the Porsche crew to seal the title, but Dempsey and Cheever enjoy a strong advantage heading into Sunday’s finale.

Despite the late penalty, Boccolacci and stand-in Sven Mueller still finished sixth, while seventh was not enough to keep Auer and Maro Engel’s title hopes alive — Engel having run wide on the restart.

The No. 77 KPX Motorsport BMW of David Pittard and Jop Rappange was another to enjoy a remarkable race as it climbed from the back row of the grid to finish eighth, with Dressler/Marschall ultimately ninth.

Silver Cup honors went to Optimum Motorsport McLaren pair Guilherme Oliveira and Mikey Porter for the second time this season in 21st overall with the already crowned WRT BMW duo Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont only seventh in class.

The Gold Cup title has now been resolved as a late five-second penalty for the points-leading No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari of Matias Zagazeta and Tommaso Mosca for causing contact dropped it to seventh in class, but was not enough to deny them from taking the crown as the Garage 59 McLaren crew was in strife early on.

RESULTS: Race 1