The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT didn’t miss its debut in the FIA GT3 series. On Sunday, Grégory Franchi and Enzo Ide imposed their Audi R8 LMS in the second race of the Portuguese season-opener, and gave the Belgian squad its first win at international level.
The mood was festive in the pits of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT at Portimão on Sunday evening, Grégory Franchi and Enzo Ide gave the Belgian team its first win abroad, in what was its FIA GT3 debut. Still, the Portimão week-end could have been even more successful. On Saturday, while fighting for a podium finish in Race 1, Greg and Enzo saw their efforts ruined by an arguable penalty – inflicted to a dozen cars – for allegedly pitting too fast. The incident cost the third position to the Belgian duo, who eventually finished 9th and first among the Audis.
On Sunday, luck was more generous with the team. Caught at the start in the typical door-to- door fight, Greg Franchi thought the chances of a good result were gone, but when the safety-car came out a few seconds before the opening of the first refueling window, Greg dived into the pits. « I took the decision alone, in a split second », explained Greg. « I asked my engineer to count-down the seconds up to the opening of the window and got into the pits at the right moment. It was tight, but it gave Enzo the opportunity to take the lead after the safety-car period, as we were the only ones that went for that strategy.”
As it was the case on Saturday when he took the start of the race from the fifth position in the grid, Enzo took the lead. Resisting perfectly to the pressure, the young Audi driver, the true revelation of this weekend, kept the advantage over the best of the Ferraris to take a win that was clearly very emotional. The success allows Greg and Enzo to lye second in the overall standings, only one point behind the leaders.
Entered at the wheel of the team’s other Audi R8 LMS, Didier André and David Hallyday also had a mixed weekend. After a contact and a spin at the beginning of Race 1, David Hallyday was forced back to the pits by a gearbox problem. On Sunday, Didier and David performed an excellent race, which they finished in 6th position and second among the Audis, just behind their team-mates. « Not everything went well during the weekend, but we feel good », declared a smiling David Hallyday. « Although I know well the team, for which I race in the GT Tour, the series, my team-mate and the track were new to me. We didn’t manage to find the ideal set-up on this twisty track, but to start 21st and finish 6th in our second race is quite promising for the future. »
The next stop of the FIA GT3 will be at Silverstone, on the first weekend of June, and promises already to be very exciting!
Source : Audi Club Team WRT