RACE 1
Saturday afternoon's opening 30-minute sprint race proved eventful, with Martin Kaczmarski and Heyer dueling for victory. From the rolling start, Heyer gained the upper hand at Turn 1 over Kaczmarski, who started from pole position, while several Porsche GT3 Cups created havoc after starting out of position.
Kaczmarski followed Heyer in the early stages, waited for the right moment and then made his move into turn 12 on lap five. The leader's blue SR Motorsport Mercedes ran wide, allowing the white PTT Racing one to take the lead, with a nice lead.
Two safety car interruptions – the first to recover Miguel Gomez's Porsche – created a double problem for Kaczmarski on the restart, but he overcame them without problems and achieved his second victory in a GTWS race, leading Heyer by 3.5 seconds. .
“I'm not very happy because I forgot to wear my sunglasses and I couldn't see anything!” commented the winner.
“The car was really good and we had a good battle. I didn't feel the pressure of restarts because my opponent was very professional and it was fun to race with him. I'm not proud of myself yet. I need more victories! “.
David Thilenius (Schnitzelalm) completed the Mercedes trio, but only after chasing Hubert Darmetko's Porsche GT3 Cup in the early stages. After the first restart under the safety car, Leandro Martins also overtook Thilenius and attacked Darmetko at Turn 7. The two made contact, with both cars ending up in the gravel.
Sportingly, Martins acknowledged his fault and helped push Darmetko's car back into the race. The accident gave Thilenius the podium, while Martins' stalled car caused the second safety car interruption.
Damage to the Racar Motorsport 911 ruled the car out of Sunday's race, depriving 2022 Porsche Supercup champion Dylan Pereira of the chance to compete.
Joachim Bölting (Plusline Racing Team) placed fourth overall and first in the Cup class ahead of Pierre Ehret. The latter, however, was one of those who had not respected the starting position and not even served the drive-through punishment, for which he received a penalty of 35″. This brought Pablo Bras, who had served the his penalty, in second place in class and fifth overall, ahead of the recovering Darmetko.
RACE 2
Heyer's SR Motorsport teammate Jay Mo Härtling prevailed in the battle of the Mercedes trio in the second sprint race on Sunday.
His victory from pole position was interrupted only by a brief safety car interlude, when Porsche driver Pablo Bras scattered gravel on the track with an exit at Turn 12. Härtling faced the safety car restart without drama and achieved a comfortable victory, with a 6″649 advantage over Moritz Wiskirchen (Schnitzelalm).
The winner of race 1, Kaczmarski, was hot on the heels of the first two, but the PTT driver lost time by running wide at turn 12 on the 11th lap and was forced to settle for the podium.
The Rinaldi Porsche driven by Christian Hook took fourth place overall as the last of the GT3s, but narrowly preceded the winner of the GT3 Cup Class, Darmetko, who redeemed himself from the disappointment of Race 1 with a spirited drive, finishing ahead of the winner of the category in Saturday's round, Bölting.
RACE 3
Kaczmarski chose not to participate in the one-hour endurance race, effectively leaving Heyer and Härtling with the chance to take a comfortable victory at the end of an intense day. The pair is thus preparing to win the GTWS title in the last test next weekend in Barcelona.
“Kenneth did a great job at the start of the race, then there was the driver change and I took home the result,” said Härtling.
“Jay Mo is more or less a rocket now, he's improving every weekend – said Heyer after hugging his teammate – I prepared the car as best as possible for the race, not using the tires too much and staying within the limits of the track. His race times were really good. Next weekend, if we want to be champions, we have to be smart.”
Schnitzelalm's Mercedes finished in second place, 54″363 behind the winner, as the sun set. Thilenius had no easy task as he found himself swamped by a group of Porsches at the start. But the team helped to recover the situation at the pit stops, while Wiskirchen took second position.
In the GT3 Cup Class, Darmetko put in a typically spirited first stint to challenge a solo Bölting, before passing the baton to Mateus Lisowski. Halfway through the stop, however, the car broke the pit lane speed limit, causing the pair to incur a drive-through penalty. Lisowski served his punishment amidst amused applause from PTT Racing.
Once back on track, Lisowski wasted little time in catching and overtaking Bras in the Wileco Motorsport car, before catching Bölting and causing a disaster at turns 8/9 by spinning.
Lisowski caught Bras and made a nice overtaking move at the hairpin, then repeated the move the following lap to take away Bölting's class lead and third place in the overall standings.
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