#80 Porsche takes victory at Magny-Cours

This weekend the GT World Challenge Europe was at Magny-Cours in France. This weekend we saw the Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen car take victory for race 1 and the #80 Porsche took victory in Race 2 after pole sitter #7 Aston Martin was hit with an early race penalty.

Saturday: Race 1 

Mercedes- AMG Team Verstappen Racing opened the weekend with a victory on Saturday. Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella had the control during the whole first race in the #3 Mercedes- AMG GT3 EVO to take the win after the 1 hour race, while the battle behind them remained close throughout the field.

Sunday: Race 2

The Sunday meant it was time for Race 2, the Lionspeed GP came out on top after a very chaotic race.The #80 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Buus and Feller took the checkered flag after a race that was filled with yellow flags and a red flag, with the victory they put themselves back into the sprint cup fight.

Nicki Thiim put car #7 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin on pole for race 2, but shortly after the start of the race the team received a 10-second penalty for a jump start. The Aston Martin was forced to fight back through the grid while several other cars were fighting for the lead in the first stint.

A few minutes before the first stint was over the race was interrupted by a red flag following an incident with the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari. This interruption in the race brought the field back together and created more opportunity for teams to gain positions through pit-stop strategies.

Lionspeed GP took full advantage of the red flag situation. They performed a strong pit stop and moved the #80 Porsche into contention for the lead of the race, allowing Buus to get in the front of the final part of the race. From there on, the Porsche driver kept chasing the cars in front of him to secure the win. 

Team WRT finished the race in second with the #30 BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which was driven by Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro. This was a strong result for a SIlver Cup entry, which finished ahead of several of the Pro cup contenders.

Rutronik Racing completed the podium with the #96 Lamborghini Temerario GT3. Luca Engstler and Patric Niederhauser brought the Lamborghini home in third, which makes this podium their first GT World Challenge Europe podium.

For the Saturday winners this race was less rewarding. The #3 Mercedes- AMG of Gounon and Juncadella finished in eighth, while the pole-sitter of this race recovered to finish 18th after the penalty.

After these two very different races, Magny-Cours gave us two different winners and another shot in the Sprint Cup Standing as the season continued.

Race 2 Results 

Overall

#80 - Lionspeed GP (Porsche) - Ricardo Feller, Bastian Buus

#30 - Team WRT (BMW M) - Matisse Lismont, Ignacio Montenegro

#96 - Rutronik Racing (Lamborghini) - Luca Engstler, Patric Niederhauser

#50 - AF Corse (Ferrari) - Thomas Neubauer, Arthur Leclerc

#84 - Eastalent Racing (Audi) - Simon Reicher, Christopher Haase

Silver

#30 - Team WRT (BMW M)

#5 - Optimum Motorsport (McLaren) 

#21 - Comtoyou Racing (Aston Martin) 

#6 - Getspeed Team (Mercedes -AMG) 

#66 - Tresor Attempto Racing (Audi)

Gold

#111 - CSA Racing (McLaren)

#51 - AF Corse (Ferrari)

#555 - CSA Racing (Mclaren)

#58 - Garage 59 (McLaren) 

#10 - Boutsen VDS - (Porsche) 

Pro

#80 - Lionspeed GP (Porsche)

#96 - Rutronik Racing (Lamborghini)

#50 - AF Corse (Ferrari)

#84 - Eastalent Racing (Audi)

#59 - Garage 59 (McLaren) 

Article Written by Zoë W