The sixth race weekend of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) season took place on the weekend of July 16th-19th with a pair of Sprint Cup races at the Misano circuit in Italy. BMW M Team WRT won both races overall and took the championship lead.
There were 43 cars entered at Misano, including three BMW M4 GT3 EVO entries from Team WRT in the top Pro Cup class and one in Silver Cup. BMW was also represented in the Gold Cup class by KPX Motorsport and in the Bronze Cup class by Paradine Competition.
Valentino Rossi’s pole for race one was his first in GTWCE Competition.
Local hero Valentino Rossi took a very popular pole position for the first race in the #46 M4 GT3 EVO that he shared with Max Hesse. It was Rossi’s first pole in GTWCE competition. Charles Weerts was the next fastest BMW qualifier in fourth in the #32 M4 GT3 EVO that he shared with Kelvin van der Linde.
Things went wrong for Rossi but great for Weerts at the start of race one. Rossi was challenged by the #80 Porsche at the start and moved to defend, but the two made contact along with the #66 Audi, which then ran into the #3 Mercedes-AMG. Rossi fell from pole to fourth while Weerts charged into the lead before the first corner. Weerts then stayed in the lead for his stint in the #32, as did van der Linde when he took over. The win was Weerts 19th in GTWCE competition, which tied him with BMW driver Dries Vanthoor.
Charles Weerts took the lead by turn one in race one after starting fourth.
Unfortunately, the #46 was given a 10 second penalty for the contact at the start of race one, but Rossi and Hesse recovered to finish sixth overall and fifth in the Pro Cup class. The #31 BMW of Jordan Pepper and Amaury Cordeel finished seventh. Team WRT also had success in the Silver Cup class, with Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro winning the class and finishing tenth overall in the #30 M4 GT3 EVO. The #991 Paradine Competition BMW of Augusto Farfus and Darren Leung finished fourth in the Gold Cup class.
Weerts and van der Linde won the second race as well in the #32 BMW, but the win was as much a credit to the WRT pit crew as the drivers. Kelvin van der Linde started in second behind the #3 Mercedes-AMG and stayed within a second of the lead but was unable to make a pass. The pass for the lead came in the pits when van der Linde handed over to Weerts, as the WRT crew put in a super-quick stop to get out ahead of the Mercedes-AMG to move into the lead and take the win. The #46 of Rossi and Hesse finished fourth in Pro Cup and the #30 BMW of Lismont and Montenegro finished third in Silver Cup. The #31 M4 GT3 EVO of Pepper and Cordeel got up into fifth but had to serve a penalty for contact and ended up ninth in Pro Cup.
Matisse Lismont and Ignacio Montenegro won the Silver Class in race one.
With two wins in two races at Misano, Weerts and van der Linde moved into the championship lead, and the second win at Misano gave Weerts 20 wins in GTWCE competition, making him the winningest driver in the history of the series. “It has been a great weekend here after a pretty difficult season so far so I am really happy to finally score some big points,” said Weerts. “Sunday’s win came down to the team. Kelvin had a great qualifying and a great first stint, and then to jump in and to take the lead in the box – I’m really happy and thankful to the crew. We are definitely pleased and let’s keep it up like this.”
Charles Weerts (left) and Kelvin van der Linde are in the championship lead after two wins at Misano.
The next race weekend for GTWCE will be this coming weekend at the Magny-Cours circuit in France with another pair of Sprint Cup races, followed by an Endurance Cup race at the Nurburgring on August 28th-30th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy SRO, BMW]