+ Result: Race 1, Spa
Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport drivers Thomas Rackl and Gabriele Piana celebrated a breakthrough GT4 European Series victory together in the opening race at Spa, the pair inheriting a hard-earned victory after a penalty for the #78 Elite Motorsport McLaren.
Charlie Hart and McKenzy Cresswell led the race from lights-to-flag aboard the Artura but were undone by a time penalty for speeding in the pitlane during their mandatory mid-race stop. Cresswell pushed as hard as he could, but couldn’t stretch the gap enough back to Piana, who followed a well-timed undercut with a string of superb passing moves to rise to second late on and snatch the win.
Victor Bouveng and Joakim Walde claimed their second Pro-Am win of the season to extend their points lead, with the Schubert Motorsport BMW coming out on top from the sister Borusan M4 of Bati Yildirim and Yagiz Gedik.
Daniel Blickle and Max Kronberg proved unstoppable in Am, with Kronberg pulling well clear of his class rival over the second half.
Early in, fast out for Piana
From 15th on the grid after a tough qualifying, few would have put their bets on Rackl and Piana, but a smooth opening stint allied to an inspired early pit stop helped them leapfrog up the order.
Rackl took the start and soon began to work his way forwards, putting the #12 BMW just inside the top 10 by the time the pit window opened and the German dived in at the perfect opportunity. The Borusan team and Piana played the same card here last year, and earned themselves a win then too, taking advantage of a quieter pit lane and the pace of Piana, whose rapid out-lap helped the car immediately vault to fifth by the time the mandatory pit cycle had played out.
In truth, the win should not have been in reach for Piana at this point, as Hart had led the first half comfortably from the sister Elite McLaren of Yani Stevenheydens, surviving some light rainfall to pit for Cresswell with a 1.5s lead. All should have been well when Cresswell took over and rejoined still out front, but the car was handed a 15-second penalty for speeding in the pits, making it a race against time.
Piana still had work to do though, and his thrilling double pass on Walde’s Pro-Am BMW and Michiel Haverans’ Team Floral Mustang into Les Combes showed his intent. The Italian closed in on Stevenheydens’ teammate Harri Reynolds, eventually passing with a neat move out of Les Combes to secure second. With Cresswell only 11 seconds ahead, it sealed the deal for Rackl and Piana once the penalty was applied to the lead McLaren.
Reynolds and Stevenheydens held off a late charge from Haverans and Sam Paley’s Mustang to claim the final step on the podium, while Roméo Leurs and Roberto Faria were fifth for Mirage Racing. Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos fought their way through traffic to take sixth. Another Mercedes-AMG caught in the queue was the points-leading SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm car of Enrico Förderer and Cedric Fuchs, which could only manage ninth place. This race also proved another disaster for defending champions Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche, with Lariche having to pit with a loss of power before the rolling start.
Bouveng and Walde double up
Walde and Bouveng’s Pro-Am charge shows no sign of slowing down as the pair took a dominant class win, their second of the season. Bouveng worked his way past class pole-sitter Charlie Robertson’s McLaren and Stefan D’Aste’s Lotus early on and was then gifted a lead when the chasing Emira was handed a time penalty for track limits and then fell back with a technical issue. A clean swap with Walde and impressive pace from the Swede earned eighth place overall, a few spots clear of the Yildirim/Gedik BMW and Viny Beltramelli/Sacha Bottemanne’s Team Speedcar Audi, which beat its own track limits penalty to finish third. Robertson and Ramyead lost their chance of a podium to a penalty for also speeding in the pits.
With Julien Ripert’s Audi pushed off the grid at the start, the Am class was a straight fight between the GR Sweden Supra of Christoffer and Mikael Brunnhagen and W&S Motorsport’s Porsche shared by Blickle and Kronberg. Blickle hounded the Supra until the pit window, when Kronberg took over and took control, cruising clear for a second class win of the year.
Race 2 for the GT4 European Series is set for 10:40 on Sunday.
