WRT Completes Misano Sweep in Race 2

Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts completed a clean sweep of the Misano GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup weekend with victory in Race 2.

Whereas their Race 1 triumph was never in doubt after Weerts took a decisive lead at the start, their BMW M4 GT3 EVO only hit the front in Race 2 thanks to some rapid WRT pitwork.

Polesitter Jules Gounon’s No. 3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo held the lead throughout the opening stint under constant pressure from van der Linde, and the pair entered the pits nose-to-tail at the end of lap 20.

However, WRT’s mechanics turned the No. 32 BMW around quickest to get Weerts out ahead of Dani Juncadella, who couldn’t get back on terms in the remainder of the 60-minute race and finished 2.97 seconds in arrears.

The victory was a record-extending 20th in the Sprint Cup for four-time series champion Weerts, who along with van der Linde now leads the championship after Lionspeed GP’s Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller failed to score.

Their No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo was running on the fringes of the top ten when Buus rotated Patric Niederhauser’s Rutronik Lamborghini Temerario at Turn 2 and was handed a 10-second penalty, leaving Feller to finish 20th.

Maro Engel and Lucas Auer completed the overall podium in their No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG, as Auer passed Valentino Rossi’s No. 46 WRT BMW on the penultimate lap.

Rossi and Max Hesse, who had pressured van der Linde before falling away prior to the stops, therefore had to settle for fourth ahead of Ben Green and Thierry Vermeulen’s Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

Green had lost out in battle to Jordan Pepper’s No. 31 WRT BMW in the first stint, but race control determined that the South African had forced Green off the track in completing the move and issued a 10-place penalty that limited Pepper’s co-driver Amaury Cordeel to tenth.

Arthur Leclerc and Thomas Neubauer took sixth in their No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari, just clear of the No. 59 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Marvin Kirchhofer and Dean Macdonald.

Alex Aka and Dylan Pereira took a second Gold victory of the weekend in eighth overall aboard their No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, with rivals Louis Prette and Tom Fleming following closely behind in their No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren.

Aka had been pursued early on by the CSA Racing McLarens of Arthur Rougier and Romain Andriolo, but both were usurped by Fleming to finish runner-up in Gold as Simon Gachet (in for Andriolo) completed the class podium.

The GetSpeed Team Bartone Bros Mercedes-AMG of Aurelien Panis and Anthony Bartone was never headed in the Silver class and finished 13th overall.

Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez took second in their Walkenhorst Motorsport Aston Martin AMR GT3 EVO after Mikey Porter’s Optimum McLaren was spun out by Christopher Haase’s Pro class Eastalent Audi, and the WRT BMW Ignacio Montenegro shared with Matisse Lismont was handed a five-second penalty for an unsafe release that demoted them to third.

Rinat Salikhov and Marvin Dienst prevailed in the Bronze class in their Winward Mercedes-AMG, after polesitter Charles Dawson was handed a drive-through penalty for contact with Gilles Stadsbader’s Ferrari.

The 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG Dawson shared with Kiern Jewiss eventually took third in class, behind Peter Dempsey and Eddie Cheever’s Ziggo Tempesta Racing Porsche, after the No. 12 GetSpeed Team Dubai Mercedes-AMG of Gabriel Rindone and Fabian Schiller which finished second on the road was handed two 10-second penalties for a short pitstop and causing a collision.

RESULTS: Race 2