After the GT2 European Series teams took part in the festivities surrounding the centenary edition of the Spa 24 Hours back in June, with races on the support bill, last weekend saw them head to Hockenheim. And it was MZR and KTM that would take the spoils.
Race 1
Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch surged to victory number three of their Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli campaign for Team MZR in the first race at Hockenheim, ahead of Philippe Prette who claimed Am class win.
Kofler inherited the #812 KTM X-BOW from Koch and completed a sterling charge from third to first by overtaking Prette in the final minutes to take the win, extending their Pro-Am points lead in the process.
Second place on the road was still an important result for Prette in the #2 LP Racing Maserati GT2, as he finished best of the Am class runners to claim big points in his own title battle.
With the front row of the grid locked out by Am class competitors, Gilles Vannelet (Akkodis ASP, Mercedes-AMG GT2) wasted no time in powering by pole man Prette heading into the hairpin to assume a first-lap advantage. Drama behind hit Pro-Am title contenders Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini (#1 LP Racing, Maserati) however, as the former collided with Mauro Ricci’s Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG.
Vannelet kept the chasing Maserati of Prette at bay all the way until he handed over to fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Beaubelique later on, dropping the #87 crew behind the Italian as a consequence of needing to serve 10 additional success seconds at their pit stop.
The Pro-Am entrants flexed their muscles in the second part of the race, and it was Kofler looking dangerous as he powered by Beaubelique into second overall. The KTM driver then trimmed Prette’s lead to nothing, and dispatched the Maserati at the hairpin with four minutes on the clock.
It proved the key moment as Kofler and Koch claimed their third respective overall and Pro-Am class spoils of the campaign, while Prette followed the KTM home closely to bag what would be his fourth Am class triumph.
Loris Hezemans (Motorsport 98, Mercedes-AMG) climbed from sixth to third overall after taking over from Eric De Doncker, who were also rewarded with second in the Pro-Am classification. Beaubelique lost out to the #98 crew at the stadium section, but fourth overall was still enough for him and Vannelet to take points for second place in the Am order.
Stéphane Ratel and Stefan Rosina put together a strong run to fifth overall to complete the Pro-Am top three, ahead of NM Racing’s Stéphane Perrin and Jörg Viebahn who rounded out the Am podium finishers with their best showing of the year, the #888 Mercedes-AMG coming home in sixth overall.
The duo had finished behind Alexandre Leroy’s TFT Racing Maserati on the road after a terrific fight between them, but the latter was given a 12-second time penalty for a short stop that bumped him down the order. Sehdi Sarmini and Klaus Angerhofer’s True Racing KTM took advantage to claim seventh outright, Leroy dropping crucial Am category points as he slotted in behind.
Race 2
Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch completed a sweep of victories for Team MZR in the secound encounter on Sunday, while Gilles Vannelet and Jean-Luc Beaubelique won in Am for Akkodis ASP.
A lights-to-flag performance from the head on the field made sure the #812 KTM X-BOW GT2 crew of Kofler and Koch completed a double in Germany, further extending their lead at the top of the Pro-Am class standings. Vannelet and Beaubelique (#87 Mercedes-AMG) celebrated both Iron Cup and Am class success after a spirited charge from the back row of the grid.
With pole-sitters Pierre Kaffer and Michael Doppelmayr (LP Racing, Audi R8 LMS GT2) missing due to a mechanical issue, it gave Kofler the chance to break away after fending off Benjamin Ricci in the Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG GT2.
Once the KTM man found breathing space on lap two, he extended the lead cushion to over seven seconds by the time he handed over to Koch, and the Austrian made no mistake to bring home win number four of their season despite a late safety car interruption.
He left behind him a fierce battle for second place, which was won by the #80 Razoon – More Than Racing KTM after Thomas Andersen and Simon Birch surged forward from ninth on the grid. Andersen dived inside the #61 of Mauro Ricci at the second corner on the restart with just five minutes remaining to finish five seconds behind Pro-Am rivals Team MZR.
Another fine recovery drive came from Vannelet and Beaubelique, the French duo rising from 12th to not only finish third overall but also claim their third Am class success of the campaign. Vannelet dispatched the #88 LP Racing entry of Stéphane Ratel and Stefan Rosina in the closing laps, but the Audi was still able to take its best result of the season in fourth overall, completing the Pro-Am top three in the process.
Staying out of trouble proved wise for the Am pairing of Pascal Gibon and Christophe Bourret (Akkodis ASP, Mercedes-AMG), who rounded out the top five outright finishers. Just behind in sixth, Philippe Prette survived an early trip to the pits to earn a place on the Am class podium in the #2 LP Racing Maserati.
The Italian team’s sister Maserati endured a difficult day at Hockenheim but recovered to seventh place after Carlo Tamburini and Leonardo Gorini started from the pit lane in the #1 machine.
Sehdi Sarmini and Klaus Angerhofer rose from 11th on the grid to finish eighth, fourth in Am, while both Alexandre Leroy (TFT Racing, Maserati) and Mauro Ricci both recovered from spins to complete the overall top 10. Leroy came together with the #888 NM Racing entry of Stéphane Perrin and Jörg Viebahn at the final corner, denying the Mercedes-AMG duo a chance of their best Am class result of the year.
With four of six rounds now complete, the Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli heads into the summer break before resuming at Monza across the weekend of 20-22 September.
Image courtesy of SRO
