GTWC | Rossi-Martin triumph in Race 1 in the super BMW one-two

Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin give an encore in Misano, winning the triumph in Race 1 of the GT World Challenge Europe and replicating that of 2023 in this Italian stage of the Sprint Cup.

Under the warm sun shining on the ‘Marco Simoncelli’, the Team WRT pair has always been in command, taking advantage of the Pole Position of the Belgian who pulled ahead of his rivals in the first half, before passing the wheel of the BMW #46 to the ‘Doctor ‘, very good at avoiding the slightest mistake and resisting the final assaults of Charles Weerts’ M4 #32.

The latter had inherited the car from his teammate Dries Vanthoor at the pit stop, managing to move into second place by overtaking the Porsche #54 of Dinamic GT and chasing Rossi, going significantly faster, but first losing a bit of ground due to a difficult lapping, and then not finding space to overtake the local idol, who was also excellent at closing the door at various points of the Romagna track.

The all-PRO podium was instead completed by the excellent Ferrari #69 of Emil Frey Racing driven by Giacomo Altoè/Thierry Vermeulen, among the fastest at the pit stop, climbing up the slope to find themselves in Top3, beating the #14 of their Green teammates /Lappalainen, fourth after running into a slower stop after the Brit had been involved in a fine duel with Vanthoor for third place in the first half.

Great comeback for the Mercedes #48 of Auer/Engel (Winward Racing), starting 21st and climbing back up to the Top5, confirming itself in very good shape also in view of Race 2, followed at the finish line by the BMW #30 of De Haan/Williams (Team WRT), winners by wide margin in Silver Cup.

Seventh place for the Porsche #96 of Rutronik Racing with the Niederhauser/Muller duo, followed by the McLaren #159 of Garage 59 driven by Goethe/Gamble and the Mercedes #9 of Boutsen VDS driven by Gotz/Gounon, also making a strong comeback from the rear following the AMG #48.

However, a slow pit stop caused the Aston Martin #7 of Baert/Drudi to lose some ground, completing the overall Top10 also thanks to the 5″ penalty inflicted on the Audi #88 of Ferrari/Haase (Tresor Attempto Racing ) for track-limits, when the R8 had also been in contention for sixth place.

Too bad for the twin R8 #99 of Aka/Feller, struggling with a left front problem in the first part of the race after a contact with a rival car.

In the Silver Cup the podium was completed by the Ferrari #52 of Hudspeth/Machiels (AF Corse), which finished in 18th place overall, with the Mercedes #57 of Barr/Gustavsen (Winward Racing) behind.

In the Gold Cup comes the Audi double thanks to the #25 of Saintéloc Racing in the hands of Magnus/Evrard, followed by the #6 of Engstler/Hofer (Team Engstler) which also ended up spinning during the first half of the race, but then recovered when it fell to young Luca. The Ferrari #51 of Eastwood/Yoluç (Racing Team Turkey-AF Corse) also gets on the podium.

Finally, in the Bronze Cup there was a triumph for Dinamic GT with the aforementioned Porsche #54 that Marvin Dienst had kept second overall at the start, only to then leave room for Philip Sager who had to defend himself from the attacks of the Lamborghini #85 of Gvazava/De Wilde (Imperiale Racing ), second at the finish line. Third was the Audi #66 of Mukovoz/Perera (Tresor Attempto).

Race 2 is scheduled to start at 9pm.