Race 1
Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase took their third win of the year on Saturday in their Audi R8 LMS, the Eastalent Audi Racing duo beating off a fine challenge from the GetSpeed Mercedes of Fabian Schiller and Anthony Bartone, the AMG of Motopark driven by Diego Menchaca and Marcos Siebert finished third ahead of Marinangeli-Abril (Spirit of Race Ferrari) and Deledda-Pepper (Oregon Lambo), the other drivers involved in the final battle.
With these results, Pitamber-Baumann (SPS Mercedes), who finished sixth, lead by only one point (65 to 64) ahead of Menchaca-Siebert, while Haase-Reicher are third with 60 points, re-launching their title bid.
“The team gave us a perfect car, which had been prepared to achieve maximum speed and that paid off”, said the German-Austrian duo after their spectacular win secured in the penultimate lap.
Valentin Pierburg and Aaron Walker (SPS Mercedes) clinched their maiden win of the season in Pro-Am, ahead of Hahn-Khodair (AF Corse Ferrari) and the Proctors father-and-son (Greystone GT McLaren).
In Am, Roberto Lacorte debuted in the series in the best possible way, netting a win in the AF Corse Ferrari, ahead of championship leader Giuseppe Cipriani (Il Barone Rampante Lambo) and S.Jedlinski-Korzenowski (Olimp Racing Ferrari).
At the start, poleman Fabian Schiller maintained the advantage while Abril lost his front row advantage to Pepper and Khodair.
Schiller led from Abril, Khodair, Walker, Menchaca, Mettler, Reicher and Pitamber. At the back, Cipriani was sent into a spin, while De Meeus was stranded out of the track in a separate drama.
On lap 3, Borodine spun and at the end of the Mistral straight there was contact between Kirchmayr and Nana, with the Thai being sent off-track, luckily without hitting anything or anyone.
On lap 10, Schiller still led but was under pressure from Pepper, followed by Abril who was told to give the position back to Khodair after an earlier tussle, then Walker, Mettler, Menchaca, Bonduel, Reicher and Pitamber. Korzeniowski meanwhile dominated Am.
On lap 13, just before the opening of the driver change window, Pepper took the lead from Schiller. After all changes (lap 20), Bartone led by a second over Deledda, 4 on Marinangeli and 11 on Haase.
The battle between the top four got closer, covered by only 5 seconds with 17 minutes of racing left.
Marinangeli was trying everything to pass Deledda for several laps, but unsuccessfully. This gave though a 4-second breathing space to Bartone in the lead, and allowed Haase to join the Italian duo.
The German passed Marinangeli on lap 28 and Deledda one lap later to start a final charge on Bartone, who he passed on the penultimate lap. The action was not over, with Siebert taking third at the end ahead of Marinangeli and Deledda, the other two drivers involved in the final battle.
Pierburg took the win in Pro-Am ahead of Hahn and Proctor, and Lacorte imposed himself in Am ahead of Cipriani and S.Jedlinski.
Race 2
Nicola Marinangeli and Vincent Abril took a long-awaited and well-deserved win in Sunday’s Race 2 at Paul Ricard as cooler temperatures and storms soaked the French track.
The race, which started behind the safety car, had to be red-flagged for about 20 minutes ahead of the pit stop window because of the weather conditions.
The Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 imposed itself in the last lap after an intense duel with the Eastalent Racing Audi of Simon Reicher-Christopher Haase, who couldn’t repeat yesterday’s success but make a great move in the championship standings, where they now lead by 3 points on Alessio Deledda, who together with Jordan Pepper today took third in the Oregon Team Lambo.
The fight was intense up to the last corner in Pro-Am too, with Marcelo Hahn-Allam Khodair taking a resounding success, while Roberto Lacorte (AF Ferrari) doubled up on Saturday’s win in Am, making the most out of his first GT Open experience.
With cooler temperatures and drizzle at the start the race was declared wet with everybody is on rain tyres for a start behind the safety-car, with Riccardo Agostini, who took the pole on his return to the series, ahead of the pack.
When the cars were released, Agostini kept the lead ahead of Haase, Fumanelli, Fontana, Basz, Baumann and Ikin. The ISR Audi, following a crash in qualifying, would be a non-starter.
In the difficult conditions, there were off-tracks and spins (Bergström, Cipriani) and on lap 5, Haase stole the lead from Agostini but shortly after, with rain becoming stronger and the wind rising, the race was red-flagged for about 20 minutes, with 33 still on the clock.
The restart was again behind the safety-car, with Haase, Agostini, Basz, Fumanelli, Baumann, Menzel, L. Proctor and Webb in that order, and Osieka leading in as the driver change window opened on lap 12.
After all changes, Reicher led by a mere 0.7 on Abril, then Kirchayr, Stromsted, Pepper and M.Jedlinski. Soon Reichmer and Abril pulled away while Pepper and Schiller were third and fourth ahead of a Kirchmayr, leader in Pro-Am, Fluxá, Pitamber and Bonduel, while Lacorte took the lead in Am.
In the closing laps, Abril became more and more of a threat for Reicher, managing to pass him with an impeccable move at the chicane at the end of Mistral on the last lap.
Pepper was third but the last dramas were for the Pro-Am win, after Kirchmayr spun two laps from the end, the lead went to Marco Pulcini, although the Italian could not resist the formidable charge of Allam Khodair, who passed him for the class victory in the last corner.
