Nick Catsburg and Albert von Thurn und Taxis controlled proceedings in the first race of the day at Moscow Raceway from pole position. It was the first win for Reiter Engineering since the FIA GT round at Zolder in 2013, and the first win for the 2015-spec Lamborghini Gallardo.
“It’s not so difficult to drive if you have a lead as good as that,” von Thurn und Taxis said after the race. “I was shocked how good the car was. I’m so grateful that after a series of tough years it was easy to bring the car home this time.”
Catsburg started the race and made it look easy, creating a healthy gap to the rest of the field during his stint, with the rest of the pack unable to challenge. Von Thurn und Taxis climbed aboard for the second half, maintaining a lead of about 10 seconds and finishing the job for the team. It proved to be difficult to overtake on the free-flowing circuit, with many drivers finding themselves frustrated trying to fight through the field.
A minor incident at Turn 1 as the field ran close together into the left-hander resulted in Laurens Vanthoor’s championship-leading Audi getting a puncture. Jules Szymkowiak in the #83 HTP Bentley made contact with the R8 ending the Belgian’s race prematurely. Vanthoor made it back to the pits, but only managed another 12 laps before calling it a day. The winning streak for himself and Robin Frijns was therefore put to an end at four.
It was a frustrating race for Markus Winkelhock in the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi. Prior to the start his co-driver Nicki Meyr-Melnhof was called away from the circuit due to a family emergency, leaving Winkelhok to drive the car solo (the car was therefore ineligible for points). He lost out in the squabbling at on the first lap slipping to fifth from second, and ended up finishing the race 10th. Early in the race he was run off the track by Szymkowiak which put him out of the top five and had a spin on his own in the final few laps which lost him a few more spots.
This left the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Marco Seefried and Norbert Siedler in second sitting behind the Lamborghini. The pair were unable to apply much pressure to the eventual winners but nevertheless claimed a good spot on the grid for the Main Race after a quiet outing.
“The lamborghini was really fast, we couldn’t keep up,” explained Seidler. “We have anotehr race in two hours though, and we hope we can be on the top spot there. We also hope a Bentley doesn’t hit us like in Zolder!”
It looked like the Attempto McLaren of Rob Bell and Kevin Estre would be able to snatch a podium spot early in the race after a great start from Estre. But once again the team were let down by a slow pit stop which promoted the #84 HTP Bentley of Vincent Abril and Max Buhk; the 650 came home a disappointing sixth.
Fourth was the #0 Brasil BMW after making its way through the field throughout. Caca Bueno drove very well, and managed to make the move on Enzo Ide’s #2 Audi R8 with a quarter of an hour to go to secure the place and leave Ide rounding out the top five.
In what was a formality, the #83 Bentley won the Silver Cup as the only entrant in the class and the #70 GT Russian Team Mercedes was victorious in Pro-Am.
Stephen Kilbey
