Race 1: Saturday
Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani took a controlled victory in a thrilling opening GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club outing at Misano, with their third win of the year extending their points lead.
Lariche started the #3 Team Speedcar Audi third on the grid and kept a close watch on the fight for the lead between the pole-sitting Elite Motorsport McLaren driven by Josh Rattican and the NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG of Lluc Ibañez. Lariche was right behind the duelling leaders when he pitted for Consani, and the combination of the Frenchman’s pace, fresher tyres and sheer determination helped the Audi pass the McLaren and then hunt down the Mercedes-AMG, eventually pulling a superb pass for the win after the two cars ran side-by-side for multiple corners.
Stanislav Safronov and Aleksandr Vaintrub scored their first Pro-Am win of the year, taking advantage of issues for their rivals to grab maximum points in the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin. Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn stayed clear of trouble to win in Am, stretching their lead over the #30 W&S Porsche, which suffered its own drama.
SILVER:
A controlled opening stint from Lariche laid the foundations for his team-mate’s epic late charge, with tyre conservation playing a big role in the warm conditions.
Josh Rattican made no mistake from pole position, blasting his Elite McLaren into an early lead from the chasing Ibañez and Lariche as the top three gradually pulled a gap. However, while the McLaren was in front Rattican couldn’t pull clear, with Ibañez repeatedly attacking before slipping past with a cutback out of Turn 10. Their fight meant Lariche stayed right with them when he pitted for Consani.
Lariche’s choice to hold back across the first half meant Consani rejoined with more life in his tyres than the two ahead and quickly found his way past McKenzy Cresswell, who had taken the McLaren over from Rattican, before working his way onto the tail of Papadopulos in the lead Mercedes-AMG.
When it came, the move for the lead was stunning, with the two cars running side-by-side for multiple turns before Consani got the job done around the outside of Turn 12. Papadopulos and Ibañez held second from the charging Borusan Otomotiv BMW of Berkay Besler/Gabriele Piana, which Piana had managed to work past both the L’Espace Bienvenue BMW of Ricardo van der Ende/Benjamin Lessennes and the Rattican/Cresswell McLaren to snatch the final podium spot.
Drive of the race arguably went to the sister Borusan Otomotiv car of Pedro Ebrahim and Yagiz Gedik, which made up 32 places to finish sixth, having started last.
PRO-AM:
Safronov and Vaintrub’s drive to victory in Pro-Am was the only consistent thing in what became a crazy class race, as each of their rivals hit trouble.
Safronov started the #7 Aston second, worked into an early lead and never looked back, controlling the class throughout before handing to Vaintrub, who overcame a failing driver cooling system to bring the car home. Gabriela Jilkova and Cindy Gudet eventually took second, despite their Matmut Évolution Toyota taking a hit from Hendrik Still’s W&S Motorsport Porsche, which earned the points-leading car a time penalty.
Davide and Paolo Meloni completed the podium, but only after enduring their own spin after contact with a McLaren. They were helped back ahead by a raft of penalties and issues for others. Both the Chazel Technologie Course BMW of Lucas Cartelle/Lucas Sugliano and JSB Competition Porsche of Viny Beltramelli/Nicco Ferrarin picked up track limits penalties but were fourth and fifth, while Victor Bouveng/Joakim Walde’s Schubert Motorsport BMW was hit into a spin in traffic and finished sixth.
Still and Joachim Bölting’s Porsche lacked pace and came home just eighth, while the Continental Racing M4 shared by Vasily Vladykin/Mikhail Loboda was a podium contender before stopping with a technical issue.
AM:
Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle looked comfortably on course to take the Am class points lead across the first half of this race, until the #30 Porsche suffered a hit that opened the door for Leandri and De Barn to capitalise for Chazel Technologie Course.
Kronberg led from pole through the opening stages, but contact from behind just before the pit window opened knocked the steering out and upset the car’s balance. Blickle took over but was plagued by oversteer, and did well to salvage fourth.
With their rivals struggling, De Barn took a lead he would never lose, and with it a fourth win of the year for he and Leandri. Stefan Nilsson/Mats Olsson were second for Schubert Motorsport, with Julien Ripert/Philippe Thalamy completing the podium in their Team Speedcar Audi.
Race 2: Sunday
Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche secured a lights-to-flag win to complete a dream weekend at Misano, their fourth victory of the season putting them on the brink of securing this year’s GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club Silver title.
The pair’s clean sweep in Italy hands them a 79-point lead, meaning they can wrap up the crown next time out at the Nürburgring. Pedro Ebrahim and Yagiz Gedik chased the Audi home in second, but a late puncture for the M4 of Gabriele Piana/Berkay Besler denied Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport a double podium and allowed NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG drivers Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos into third.
Mirage Racing also doubled its joy with Aleksandr Vaintrub and Stanislav Safronov coming out on top of a tight Pro-Am race. The theme continued in Am too, with Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn claiming a pair of wins for Chazel Technologie Course.
SILVER:
Having not won at Misano in any of their previous seasons as a pairing, Consani and Lariche completed a dream double this time around, with the #3 Audi proving unshakable despite some late technical drama.
Consani started on pole and tightened his grip on top spot by edging ahead of the sister Team Speedcar Audi of Paul Petit into Turn 1, and then making a run for it when Petit was squeezed off line, allowing a trio of BMWs from L’Espace Bienvenue and Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport to form behind the lead Audi. The L’Espace Bienvenue challenge was abruptly ended by a tyre issue that sent Benjamin Lessennes back to the pits.
Consani kept the twin Borusan BMWs at bay, but lost his early gap to a safety car period called to clear up a collision between Ajith Kumar’s AV Racing Porsche and the Schubert Motorsport M4 of Mats Olsson.
Consani got the jump on the BMWs at the restart, pitting for Lariche with almost a two-second gap back to Gabriele Piana’s #12 M4. A clean swap got Lariche back out ahead, with the Borusan cars switching places thanks to Yagiz Gedik’s earlier stop to hand to Pedro Ebrahim. That helped the Brazilian jump past Besler, who had relayed Piana, for second.
Late in the race, Lariche began to lose some of the Audi’s electrical systems, suffering with a lack of ABS and traction control, but held Ebrahim at arm’s length to put himself and Consani in firm control of the title chase.
Besler and Piana looked set to keep the NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG behind, despite Ibañez climbing all over the back of the #12 in the fight for third, but a front-right puncture struck late on, bringing heartbreak for the BMW. Paul Petit and Gregory Guilvert were fourth, ahead of the Lema Racing x Mapetrol Mercedes-AMG of Mark Kastelic and Elias Niskanen, which took a season-best result in fifth.
PRO-AM:
A second win for Vaintrub and Safronov has dramatically closed up the Pro-Am title fight, with the Mirage Racing Aston Martin pair moving up to second in the table.
Early contact for the pole-sitting CMR Ginetta of Thibaut Mogica dislodged the car’s bonnet and initially allowed Mikhail Loboda’s Continental Racing BMW to drag past into the lead, followed by Vaintrub as the Ginetta faded with damage and, later, a puncture. An early pit stop for Mirage helped Safronov leapfrog ahead of Loboda’s team-mate Vasily Vladykin.
The lead pair were then joined by Victor Bouveng’s Schubert Motorsport M4 to make it a three-way battle in the late stages. Vladykin fell back to third after a clash with the #87 Matmut Évolution Toyota, leaving Bouveng and Joakim Walde to chase the Aston Martin across the finish line.
Another tough race stuck in traffic meant points leaders Joachim Bölting and Hendrik Still were limited to fourth, giving them a now reduced 27-point lead over Safronov/Vaintrub.
AM:
There was little doubt about the Am class result, with De Barn starting the #317 BMW on pole and pulling comfortably clear of his rivals across the opening half of the race. Leandri then kept things clean amid the chaos elsewhere to finish a superb 12th overall, a huge 10 places clear of their title rivals to secure a fifth victory of the year.
W&S Motorsport Porsche drivers Daniel Blickle and Max Kronberg fought ahead of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra shared by Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen to limit the points damage in second, but now trail the Chazel pair by 21 points with four races remaining this year.
The GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club is back in action at the Nürburgring across the weekend of August 29-31.
