Grasser Ends Endurance Win Drought With Nürburgring Victory

GRT Grasser Racing Team took Lamborghini’s first Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup victory in nearly three years by winning the third round of the season at the Nürburgring.

Jordan Pepper, Marco Mapelli and Franck Perera, sharing the No. 163 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, finished ahead of the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich, Dorian Boccolacci and Ayhancan Guven in Sunday’s three-hour contest at the German circuit.

The win brings an end to an Endurance Cup win drought of 1,057 days for Lamborghini, dating back to Orange 1 FFF Racing Team’s win at the Nürburgring in 2021.

Grasser, meanwhile, took its first overall Endurance Cup victory since its title-winning campaign in 2017.

Pepper, taking the start, was able to move up from third to first place at the start when the polesitting No. 96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was hit at Turn 1 by AF Corse driver David Vidales.

Patric Niederhauser was pushed into Lucas Auer’s No. 48 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo as a result of the hit, which triggered a left-rear puncture that forced the Porsche into retirement.

Vidales was later given a drivethrough penalty for the incident, while Auer emerged unscathed and moved into second place behind Pepper’s No. 63 Lamborghini.

This set up a battle between the two cars that would continue for the much of the rest of the race.

The No. 48 car closed up on the leading Lamborghini on multiple occasions, but Pepper and then Mapelli held off pressure from Auer and Maro Engel through the first two hours.

The Winward Racing-operated Mercedes-AMG briefly appeared to have taken the lead when Daniel Morad took over the car on the overcut during the second and final stop.

However, the Canadian ran wide at T1 on his outlap, allowing Perera to slip up the inside and regain first place before building a solid advantage and going on to win.

Morad, meanwhile, came under pressure from the No. 22 Schumacher CLRT Porsche of Laurin Heinrich and eventually faltered with three minutes to go when the German lunged up the inside at T1.

Heinrich, Boccolacci and Guven finished second, while Auer, Engel and Morad completed the podium ahead of the No. 99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II in fourth.

The No. 98 ROWE Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Nick Yelloly, Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann completed the top five, with the No. 7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo classified sixth after a ten-second penalty for an unsafe release.

Maximilian Goetz, Thomas Drouet and Philip Ellis finished seventh for Boutsen VDS, leading home the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari in eighth place.

Alessio Rovera, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon recorded a top-ten finish from 48th on the grid, with Rovera storming up in the opening stint after the car was out of position after an incident in qualifying.

Pier Guidi notably came to blows with the No. 32 Team WRT BMW in the final 20 minutes of the race, which resulted in retirement for the Belgian squad after Dries Vanthoor suffered wishbone damage as a result of the contact.

The No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Matteo Cairoli and the No. 71 Ferrari completed the overall top ten.

Gold Cup honors went to the No. 25 Sainteloc Racing Audi of Gilles Magnus, Jim Pla and Paul Evrard in 16th overall, with the No. 10 Boutsen VDS Mercedes-AMG in 17th overall winning Silver Cup.

After seeing its Pro entry retire on the opening lap, Rutronik Racing’s No. 97 Porsche delivered the class victory in Bronze Cup after a controlling run for Dustin Blattner, Loek Hartog and Dennis Marschall.

RESULTS: 3 Hours of Nürburgring