+ Result: Race 2, Spa
Gabriele Piana and Thomas Rackl completed a dominant double victory at Spa-Francorchamps, giving the Borusan Otomotiv BMW team its first-ever GT4 European Series clean sweep.
After a fine performance from the pair on Friday night, Piana made no mistakes across a typically determined opening stint, working his way into the lead from third before running long into the pit window and handing a gap to Rackl. With no interruptions to racing across the second half, Rackl brought the car home a handful of seconds clear of McKenzy Cresswell and Charlie Hart’s Elite McLaren, which lost ground from pole after a messy start but recovered to second.
Chris Salkeld and Daniel Drexel held on in a nervy late battle to secure the Pro-Am honours for Razoon – more than racing ahead of Ravi Ramyead and Charlie Robertson’s Elite McLaren, while W&S Motorsport’s Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle were untroubled in Am with both their rivals hitting trouble.
Piana charges through the McLarens
Considering Piana and Rackl surged through the pack from P15 to win last night, the Italian was one of the favourites for Race 2 starting from third with just the twin Elite McLarens of McKenzy Cresswell and Harri Reynolds standing in his way.
Piana made short work of both, passing pole-sitter Cresswell when he ran wide through Raidillon before latching onto the back of Reynolds and completing a move for the lead into Bruxelles after a cutback out of Les Combes.
That was the start of trouble for Reynolds as his McLaren was visibly fading in the heat. He let Cresswell through to try and chase Piana, before dropping back across the race.
Up front nobody could live with Piana, who pulled a comfortable gap on Cresswell only to have his hard work undone by a safety car called to retrieve the #43 Toyota from the gravel. Racing resumed just before the pit window opened, with Piana bolting early to immediately build a one-second advantage back to Cresswell. To maximise his track time, Piana stayed out until the final moment on the pit window, building his advantage and handing Rackl a five-second lead over Charlie Hart, who had taken the #78 McLaren over from Cresswell.
All that was left to do was manage the gap, which Rackl did superbly to secure a second win of the weekend. Despite being regular race winners across recent seasons, this marked the first-ever double GT4 Europe victory for the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport team.
Michiel Haverans and Sam Paley chased the McLaren home for third, celebrating the Team Floral Mustang’s second podium finish in as many events following its breakthrough at Monza last time out.
Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche took a hard-earned fourth after their disappointing retirement yesterday, while Cedric Fuchs and Enrico Förderer battled through the traffic to fifth to salvage some solid points from an otherwise tough weekend for SR Motorsport by Schnitzelalm. Alex Papadopulos and Lluc Ibañez were sixth for NM Racing Team despite a track limits time penalty.
Razoon holds on for second win
A solid late defence from Drexel made for an absorbing Pro-Am fight across the second half, helping he and Salkeld secure a second class victory of the season. Salkeld found himself in a three-way fight for the lead with the pole-sitting Borusan BMW of Yagiz Gedik and Team Speedcar Audi of Sacha Bottemanne early on, with the #70 Razoon M4 leapfrogging to the top of the class thanks to a perfectly timed pitstop.
Drexel soaked up pressure from the chasing Charlie Robertson, who benefitted from an early stop from Ravi Ramyead in the #71 Elite McLaren, and Beltramelli, in for Bottemanne in the #3 Audi. All three cars fought through traffic together, with Drexel holding on to secure the win from Robertson. A time penalty for Bottemanne/Beltramelli opened the door for class championship leaders Joakim Walde and Victor Bouveng to extend their podium streak, finishing third in their Schubert Motorsport BMW.
Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle were untroubled in the Am class, largely thanks to their biggest rivals both having issues. Julien Ripert ploughed through the gravel in his Audi before the GR Sweden Supra shared by Mikael and Christoffer Brunnhagen stopped with a technical problem, leaving the way clear for the #30 Porsche to score big, moving Blickle into the class points lead.
The GT4 European Series returns to action at Misano in Italy across the weekend of July 17-19.
