A strong drama-free run from the #5 Phoenix Audi R8 LMS GT4 of Milan Dontje and Nicolaj Möller Madsen scored a relatively straightforward win in the first qualifying race of the GT4 International Cup in Bahrain this morning.
After passing the #10 Academy Motorsport entered McLaren on the first lap and then doing the same to polesetter and race leader Fabian Michal in the #42 Sainteloc Audi the Phoenix pair never truly looked threatened, holding a tidy lead until the flag.
Behind though there were dramas aplenty, the #42 losing further places to Finlay Hutchison in the #10 McLaren 570S, Julian Piguet in the BMW Team France M4 GT4 and Pierre Sancinena in the #36 Alpine all making it by with the Audi losing further ground in the pit stops. Hutchison would retain second place for the remainder of his stint, handing over the McLaren to Matt Nicol-Jones at the halfway point who would retain the position until the 43 minute mark when the charging Alpine would drag by the McLaren on Lap 19 into Turn 1, pulling away but making little impact on the leader.
The two Sainteloc Audis would swap 4th spot late on in the race giving the #41 4th overall and the Pro-Am win, the sister car second in the class at the flag
The second Alpine was an early casualty, tagged by Stephen Pattrick in the Bullitt AMG the car would be in braking dramas a little time later pitting into retirement. Also in trouble was the #8 BMW, Riccardo van der Ende pitting into retirement soon after ceding third to the Alpine.
There was battling aplenty in the middle order too, for some time featuring the interesting trio of the #50 Villorba Corse Maserati, the #13 Razoon KTM and #51 Primus Ginetta, the trio were split up in the pit stops and had mixed fortunes thereafter but this was an old-school demonstration of the varying strengths and weaknesses of some very different GT4 machinery.
The Ginetta would come home in eleventh for second in Am-Am class, the win claimed in the final turn by the #222 Cayman, Niki Leutwiler up the inside as the G55 faded on the final lap.
