Maro Engel and Lucas Auer claimed victory at Brands Hatch for a second year in succession, with a commanding display in the final GT World Challenge Powered by AWS race of the weekend this afternoon (Sunday).
Engel held the lead from the rolling start as the second Sprint Cup encounter of the day got underway in the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG. Fellow front row starter Chris Lulham came under more immediate pressure in his Ferrari from the rapid Lamborghini of Sandy Mitchell. Whilst Lulham was able to fend off his rival, this allowed Engel to pull out a few early car lengths in his yellow machine ahead.
From there, Engel continued to lead in the early stages despite a strong showing from Lulham who remained firmly within the leader’s mirrors. A high-paced opening stint then carried on until Baptiste Moulin took a trip into the gravel trap at Sheene, causing race control to order a full course yellow. The full safety car then emerged, bunching the field right up, before full speed racing resumed at around half distance.
Competitors weren’t able to pit until completing a racing lap, but Engel dived for the pit lane, immediately followed by Lulham at the earliest opportunity. Rapid work from the Winward mechanics meant that Auer returned to the track promptly after switching in for Engel, but a much slower stop for Lulham saw co-driver Thierry Vermeulen end up further down the order.
The big winner from the pit window was the BMW of Charles Weerts, taking over from Kelvin Van Der Linde, which ended up in second after a quick Team WRT pit stop. The Mitchell Lamborghini was another to lose time, dropping to seventh with Hugo Cook now at the wheel.
Another full course yellow, followed swiftly by a safety car, followed immediately following the pit stops in order for trackside marshals to retrieve the stranded Porsche of Eshan Pieris. At this point, Auer led from Weerts with Ben Green in the first of the Emil Frey Ferraris occupying the last of the podium positions. Seven Muller’s Porsche was fourth ahead of Arthur Leclerc’s Ferrari with Marvin Kirchhofer up to sixth ahead of Cook. Vermeulen’s Ferrari was down in 12th by this stage, such was the amount of time lost during the pit lane.
From there, Auer managed the race comfortably to drive home to first ahead of Weerts. But it was all change just behind. Green entered what turned out to be the penultimate lap in third, but was struggling to keep those behind at bay. A wide moment whilst out on the Grand Prix circuit allowed Muller to slip past in the Porsche he shares with Patric Niederhauser, whilst Arhtur Leclerc was able nip by and claim fourth on the road for himself and Thomas Neubauer.
Green struggled over to what initially seemed to be fifth for him and Konsta Lappalainen, but the fourth and fifth placed Ferraris were soon handed post-race penalties for infringements. This dropped Green down to 10th whilst Leclerc ended up classified all the way down in 25th.
This resulted in Marvin Kirchhofer and Benjamin Goethe inheriting fourth in their McLaren ahead of Cook and Mitchell. Sixth overall went to AL Faisal Al Zubair and Jens Klingmann with Mateo Villagomez and Henrique Chavez in seventh grabbed the best result of the weekend for an Aston Martin.
Following the post-race penalties further up, race one winners Alessio Rovera and Vincent Abril eventually claimed eighth, whilst Lulham and Vermeulen wound up ninth after their promising showing earlier on.
GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Sprint Cup, Brands Hatch, Race 2
- Auer/Engel, Winward Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO
- Weerts/Van Der Linde, Team WRT, BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- Muller/Niederhauser, Rutronik Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
- Kirchhofer/Goethe, Garage 59, McLaren 720s GT3 EVO
- Cook/Mitchell, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2
- Al Zubair/Klingmann, AlManar Racing by WRT, BMW M4 GT3 EVO
- Villagomez/Chaves, Walkenhorst Motorsport, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO
- Rovera/Abril, Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3
- Vermeulen/Lulham, Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3
- Green/Lappalainen, Emil Frey Racing, Ferrari 296 GT3
Click here for full results and timing from this weekend's event.