Giuseppe Ciro (ITA) and Gaetano Ardagna Perez (VEN) in the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia No.50 staged a stunning recovery to conquer Zolder’s wet-dry conditions and take victory in Race One at the second round of the FIA GT3 European Championship.
Second place went to a delighted No.11 Rhino’s Leipert Motorsport pairing of Hari Proczyk (AUT) David Mengesdorf (DEU) in the Lamborghini Gallardo LP600.
Mengesdorf held off a final lap challenge from the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia No.51 of Stefano Gai (ITA) and Michael Lyons (GBR). Fourth was the Heico Gravity-Charouz Team Mercedes No.2 of Sweden’s Max Nilsson and Finland’s Mika Vahamaki.
The race turned on AF Corse’s decision to fit dry tyres on the No.50 at the mandatory pit stop.
Ardagna Perez handed over to Ciro who devoured a deficit of over 50 seconds from the rear of the field in his stint. The Italian was as much as seven seconds quicker than his rivals who had chosen to remain on wet tyres. Ciro picked them off one by one en route to victory as the sun finally broke through.
As the race started, the battle at the front was absorbing with just eight tenths between the top three – Gai, Cesar Campanico (PRT) in the Team Novadriver Audi No.14 and Dominik Baumann – Heico Gravity-Charouz Mercedes No.1 – during the opening half an hour. Baumann eventually squeezed past Campanico then set about the Gai’s Ferrari.
As the pit window opened, Baumann’s Heico Gravity-Charouz team brought their man in and opted to stay on wet tyres at the mandatory stop. Gai gave way to Lyons who rejoined the action on wets as well.
Baumann’s co-driver in the Mercedes, Maximilian Buhk, had momentarily assumed second place but lost the car over the kerbing at the exit to Turn 1 and had to settle for fifth place after dropping down the order.
Ni Amorim, taking the reins from Portuguese compatriot Campanico in the No.14 Audi, eventually finished sixth while the Russian Bear Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italias were seventh and eighth.
As a heavy downpour soaked the track surface in the opening laps, the race came to an end in the gravel trap at the last corner for the Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS No.15 of Jerome Demay, the pole-sitter for tomorrow’s Race Two.
Marc Sourd in the second Sainteloc Audi also had an off-track excursion in his opening stint. Team-mate Gregory Guilvert brought the car home in 10th one place behind Russian duo Leo Machitski and Natalia Freidina in the No.12 Rhino’s Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini.
The result enabled AF Corse to take the lead of the teams’ championship – 93 points to the Heico Gravity-Charouz Mercedes squad’s 80 and Sainteloc Racing Audi’s 59.
Tomorrow’s Race Two starts at 12:15 local (GMT +2).
Source : SRO