Mattia Drudi fulfills his dream of winning the title in the GT World Challenge Europe, imposing himself authoritatively together with Ricardo Feller in Zandvoort in the last event of the 2023 Sprint Cup season.
The performance of the boys from Tresor Orange 1 was great, as they didn’t do anything wrong during a weekend that saw them chasing their rivals Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello.
The first blow was made by Feller by taking the Pole Position in Race 1 at the last minute, in which together with Drudi he then achieved the comeback success, after losing some positions during the stop. The man from Romagna made up ground by overtaking the Ferrari of local idol Thierry Vermeulen at the end with a furious pace, also managing to take the lead in the standings.
#40 Tresor Orange 1, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Ricardo Feller, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: SRO
Qualifying 2 on Sunday morning was much more difficult and the Italian did not go beyond the ninth time, finding himself behind Boguslavskiy. At the start of the race, the Russian immediately found himself embroiled in mid-pack duels and at the final chicane he was hit by Lorenzo Patrese, who had already touched him a couple of times previously.
The #88 Mercedes turned and, remaining on its path, was hit by those following, putting an end to all hopes of the Russian and Marciello, who then received an apology from the young driver from Tresor Attempto in the pits after the race for the happened.
At that point it was a done deal for Drudi and Feller, who however were not satisfied with the points finish; the very comeback in the rain allowed the two to overtake their opponents and put the icing on the cake with their fourth victory of the season.
#40 Tresor Orange 1, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Ricardo Feller, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: SRO
“Race 1 wasn’t the easiest stint of my life, to tell the truth. I was a bit surprised by the time we lost at the pit stop, in fact the track wasn’t completely dry and maybe we stopped a little earlier than it should have been. But never mind, in the end it went well, we took maximum points which put us back in command of the championship”, comments Drudi.
“Being Champions is truly wonderful, but I’m also sincere and say that this is not the best way to win the title; I would have preferred a clean race. In any case, we can’t do anything about it and therefore I say that it was a truly excellent season” .
“We have always been very fast and we took our chances, so I thank the team, Ricky who did a great job with a car that has always been fantastic. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”
#40 Tresor Orange 1, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Ricardo Feller, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: SRO
Feller is also delighted with this triumph: “In my opinion, in Race 1 we made the pit stop too early and I made an error in evaluating the grip in the pit lane, arriving a little too long on the pitch. This helped us wasted some time, but in the end Mattia did a fantastic job overtaking the Ferrari, which wasn’t an easy thing here.”
“We won the race and the title, it could certainly have been worse! Everyone did everything they could, demonstrating what we are capable of. I’m very happy, the team did a great job, Mattia didn’t do anything wrong and has always been fast, for me it was an honor to share the wheel with a guy like that. Now let’s celebrate!”
#40 Tresor Orange 1, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Ricardo Feller, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: SRO
The Drudi-Feller duo took home four victories out of 10 races (Brands Hatch, Hockenheim and the two Dutch races), reaching the podium on three other occasions with two second places (Brands Hatch-Race 1 and Valencia-Race 2) and a third (Valencia-Race 1), while precious points arrived with the fourth place in Hockenheim.
Curiously, the worst weekend was the home weekend in Misano for Drudi (among other things celebrating his birthday on Sunday) and the team, where only half a point was taken in Race 1 amidst a thousand sufferings. The two Pole Positions seasoned a year of applause which also gave the team led by Ferdinando Geri the Sprint title.
âWe are extremely satisfied with this result that we have built starting from afar. Being able to celebrate it after a practically perfect weekend with a pole and two overall victories, a pole and a podium in the Silver Cup only adds pride to what we have achieved this year”, comments the Roman Team Principal.
“Winning both titles, drivers and teams, is an achievement that repays us for the great work done and which underlines the value and determination we put on the track on all occasions.”
“Thanks first and foremost to our staff, to our drivers, to Attempto Racing in the person of Arkin Aka and last but not least to our partners. Orange 1 was fundamental in bringing this project to life and being able to share the title with Armando Donazzan is the realization of our 2023 goals. A big thank you also to San Lorenzo, IWS, Freem and TM Performanceâ.
#40 Tresor Orange 1, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II: Ricardo Feller, Mattia Drudi
Photo by: SRO
The only discordant note concerns the future, considering Audi Sport’s abandonment of GT racing in favor of its commitment to Formula 1 in 2026. A real shame because, as we had already reported in the summer, Geri and his collaborators have invested a lot in purchasing the R8 by personally investing in financial resources and commitment, and receiving only a small amount of support from the company.
Furthermore, Drudi and Feller are two official Audi Sport drivers who now, even with the title in their pocket, will find themselves having to replan their future, despite a car that has proven to be solid and competitive (despite its age), but now absurdly abandoned by the Manufacturer. .
#GTWC #Drudi #deserved #Sprint #title #fast