Marciello, Boguslavskiy Take Sprint Points Lead in Race 1

Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy captured the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup points lead by dominating Saturday’s race at Misano.

The drivers of the No. 88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo led from start to finish after Marciello scored his second pole of the season earlier in the day.

Boguslavskiy took the checkered flag 7.5 seconds ahead of Konsta Lappalainen who shared the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 with Giacomo Altoe.

Former points leaders Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi only managed to finish 10th after a tough race that included a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits four times.

Marciello built on his pole position at the start of the 60-minute contest, leading away from Altoe, but there was chaos just behind as three cars hit trouble at the sharp end.

Loris Spinelli’s Imperiale Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 veered into the gravel after contact from Nicolai Kjaergaard’s Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, which had been unsettled by a nudge from behind.

The Comtoyou Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Gilles Magnus also picked up damage, but there was no safety car as the affected drivers made their way back to the pits.

At the head of the field, Marciello resisted some early pressure from Altoe to draw 5.5 seconds clear of the No. 14 Ferrari when they pitted simultaneously near the end of the window.

Akkodis ASP then completed its pit stop four seconds quicker than Emil Frey, leaving Boguslavskiy with almost 10 seconds in hand to Lappalainen.

The gap came down slightly during the second stint but a trouble-free drive from Boguslavskiy resulted in his and Marciello’s second win of the Sprint Cup season.

Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, who won the last five races at Misano in Audi machinery, completed the podium after charging from 21st on the grid with their No. 32 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3.

WRT elected to bring Weerts in at the start of the pit window to get the car out of the traffic, while a rapid 62-second service contributed to Vanthoor rising to sixth overall.

The Belgian driver first dispatched the Gold Cup-leading Boutsen VDS Audi of Alberto di Folco, before fighting past Thierry Vermeulen’s No. 69 Emil Frey Ferrari.

Vanthoor then secured a podium when Comtoyou Racing Audi driver Nicolas Baert made a mistake at Turn 13 that enabled the WRT driver to slip past with three minutes to go.

Baert settled for fourth alongside Frederic Vervisch, with Vermeulen and Albert Costa completing the top five on a good day for the Emil Frey squad.

WRT’s podium came after the BMWs in the field received a 15 kg weight reduction after qualifying.

The update also included 10 kg reductions for the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, Porsche 911 GT3 R and Honda NSX GT3 Evo22.

Di Folco and Aurelien Panis finished sixth overall after starting from 12th on the grid and claimed Gold Cup honors in the process.

Victory in Silver Cup went to Haupt Racing Team’s Mercedes-AMG duo of Jordan Love and Frank Bird, who finished one position ahead of Bronze Cup winners Henrique Chaves and Miguel Ramos.

RESULTS: Race 1