A safety car intervention aided the #1 WRT Audi of championship-leaders Robin Frijns and Laurens Vanthoor in their run to victory. Vanthoor’s drive after the stops saw the Belgian return to his usual dominant self, coming home 8.4 seconds clear of the pack.
“Obviously the Main Race is the most important one for us to win, as we knew the Bentley would be the strongest in the remaining races,” said a jubilant Vanthoor afterwards. “But to be honest I said to Vincent Vosse that we should give the prize money to the mechanics because I don’t know how they did it, their work in the pits was spectacular.
“Yesterday I wasn’t very happy with myself,” he continued. “This weekend Robin has helped me improve my pace, I’ve also worked with my engineer Adam to look at where I wasn’t so fast. It worked.”
Max Buhk had a slow getaway at the start in the #84 HTP Bentley, but just about managed to hold the lead of the race through the first few turns before creating a healthy lead in the opening laps.
The good fortunes for the Qualifying Race winners wouldn’t last past the pit-window however, as an unusual safety car period was called for a loose drain cover in the run up to the stops.
A few cars hit the cover at Turn 2 causing it to fly off, the race organisers deemed it too unsafe and temporarily halted the race while it was repaired. This nullified Buhk’s four-second lead and eventually was a catalyst that cost the team the win.
The safety car came in, and the majority of the field dived straight in for mandatory stops. HTP elected to keep the #84 out for an extra two laps, but being held up by a delayed Brasil BMW on pit entry, a slow stop and Vincent Abril stalling the car after climbing aboard meant the Continental slipped to fourth after rejoining the race.
Vanthoor’s #1 Audi was therefore promoted to the lead, with the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi second and the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari third.
Another car to lose out in the pit-window massively was the Reiter Engineering Lamborghini of Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Nick Catsburg. After sitting fifth for the first 30 minutes, a slow stop by the Reiter mechanics cost the team multiple places, leaving Catsburg to fight with the mid-pack for the remainder of the race.
With Vanthoor controlling the race, Markus Winkelhock and Norbert Sielder holding station in second and third with Abril unable to catch up, the majority of the action came from fifth place onwards
towards the end.
“I had a tyre pressure problem,” said Winkelhock. “I just consolidated second but it’s great, almost a perfect weekend for me and Niki (Mayr-Melnof), our best performance together.”
The #3 and #2 WRT Audis, Always Evolving Motorsport Nissan, #77 Brasil BMW and Reiter Lambo all scrapped for fifth place throughout the second half. Craig Dolby aboard the Nissan drove extremely well in the early portion of his stint, muscling past Mies’ #2 Audi down the pit straight, before slowly fading away and finishing 8th by race end. It was nevertheless a valiant effort for the new Nissan squad after starting the race 14th following gear issues in the Qualifying Race.
Stéphane Ortelli came home fifth in the #3, Catsburg recovered to sixth after being punted off by he #77 BMW of Valdeno Brito who was later penalised for the contact. And seventh was eventually Mies’s Audi after snatching the spot back from Dolby in the closing stages.
Next on the calendar for the Sprint Series is the round at Misano on October 3rd and 4th.
Stephen Kilbey
