Misano Masters Vanthoor, Weerts Claim Race 2 Victory

Team WRT’s Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts capped a perfect weekend by winning the second Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS race at Misano.

The drivers of the No. 32 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II claimed maximum points in Italy by taking two pole positions and winning both 60-minute races from the front of the grid.

It marked the Belgian pairing’s seventh victory together at Misano, while Vanthoor equaled his brother Laurens’ record tally of 14 wins in GTWC Europe Sprint Cup.

As was the case in Saturday’s contest, Vanthoor and Weerts finished one place ahead of their title rivals Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy who shared the No. 89 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

This extended the difference between the two crews to 11.5 points, with two races at Valencia in September remaining.

Vanthoor opened a seven-second lead in the opening stint before WRT executed a textbook pit stop to get Weerts behind the wheel in a dominant position.

Weerts then set the fastest lap of the race and extended the gap to 11 seconds, while a fast service from Akkodis ASP saw the No. 89 Mercedes-AMG climb two positions after Marciello closely tailed the Audis of Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies early on.

The No. 32 Audi’s victory looked certain for a while until a Full Course Yellow period occurred with nine minutes to go, leading into a safety car that bunched the field.

The intervention was caused by Lorenzo Patrese crashing out from fifth place when his Tresor by Car Collection Audi bizarrely ran straight on into the barriers at Turn 13.

The 16-year-old Italian walked away from the accident, which took place at one of the fastest corners of the circuit, however his car was too damaged to continue.

Weerts, who had the benefit of a Pro-Am car between himself and Boguslavskiy, neatly controlled the restart to take victory by two seconds, while the Akkodis ASP driver held on to second to limit the Sprint Cup title race damage in the face of a WRT sweep.

There was a change for third place on the final lap as Simon Gachet overtook Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer into the Turn 10 right-hander, putting the No. 11 Tresor by Car Collection Audi on the podium.

Haase started the No. 11 Audi but a slow pit stop dropped it to fourth, however Gachet benefited from the safety car to work ahead of the No. 33 WRT car started by Mies.

Behind that battle, Valentino Rossi claimed a personal best result in Sprint Cup as the motorcycle racing star and Frederic Vervisch brought their No. 46 Audi home in fifth.

After retiring from Race 1 due to contact, Vervisch charged from 12th to seventh in the opening stanza before handing over to Rossi, who picked up the reins in sixth place.

The Italian, performing in front of a vocal crowd at his home circuit, did well to keep Mercedes-AMG factory driver Jules Gounon at bay, both during the stint and the one-lap dash to the line after the safety car.

With Rossi promoted to the top five by Patrese’s accident, the Akkodis ASP pairing of Gounon and Jim Pla finished sixth ahead of Alberto di Folco and Albert Costa’s Imperiale Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Eighth-placed Ulysse de Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean mathematically sealed the Sprint Cup Silver category title by taking victory for AF Corse.

Jean overcame WRT Audi driver Thomas Neubauer in the final-lap scramble to secure his and de Pauw’s fifth class win of the season, after the No. 30 Audi emerged from the pit stops ahead of their Silver pole-sitting No. 53 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

Neubauer ended up third in class after dropping behind the Attempto Racing Audi of Nicolas Schoell and Alex Aka.

Pro-Am honors went to Dean MacDonald and Miguel Ramos who took a second dominant win of the weekend in their Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3.

The points leaders’ cause was aided by contact between their two rivals, the No. 52 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 111 JP Motorsport McLaren, on the opening lap.

The Ferrari pitted off-sequence for repairs and finished one lap down, whereas the McLaren was unable to get going and retired on the spot, causing a brief early safety car.

Attempto Racing’s No. 66 Audi, which qualified fifth, also retired on lap one after picking up a right-rear puncture.

Another incident occurred later in the race when Akkodis ASP teammates Casper Stevenson and Igor Walilko came together on the approach to Turn 9, causing the latter to bounce off the left-side barriers before continuing.

RESULTS: Misano Race 2