Strong entry into the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS for the newly formed Team Tresor by Car Collection: At the first round of the Endurance Cup season at Imola, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II with Audi Sport drivers Christopher Haase and Mattia Drudi as well as Formula 2 returnee Luca Ghiotto finished in a great fourth place, narrowly missing a podium finish. The sister car with the #11 and drivers Lorenzo Patrese, Axel Blom and Hugo Valente finished 31st overall after a turbulent race and took 11th place in the Silver Cup.
Tresor by Car Collection entered two strong cars in the first round of the Endurance Cup of the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS in Imola. The car with the #12 entered in the PRO classification was shared by the two Audi Sport drivers Christopher Haase and Mattia Drudi with Luca Ghiotto, who switched from Formula 2 to GT racing. Already in the qualifying sessions, the driver crew was able to show that it can keep up with the absolute top. After Christopher Haase set the best time in the first qualifying session, Mattia Drudi was also able to hold the provisional pole position in his part of the qualifying. Luca Ghiotto, on the other hand, was unlucky, getting stuck in traffic on each of his two fastest laps. As a result, the #12 missed out on pole position by just 0.1 second when the lap times were added up. The team could nevertheless be satisfied with fourth place overall, which also corresponded to fourth on the grid.
The sister car also got off to a good start in qualifying. Youngster Lorenzo Patrese, who tackled his first GT3 race weekend under the watchful eye of his father Ricardo Patrese, who is well known from Formula 1, even set the best time of all Silver Cup participants in his qualifying session. Veteran Hugo Valente and newcomer Axel Blom also impressed and put the #11 Audi R8 LMS evo II on the sixth grid spot in class.
At the start, the #12 under starting driver Christopher Haase held its ground at the front of the field despite tough battles and always remained within reach of the leaders. Even several safety car phases could not change this. The team managed all pit stops in a strategically perfect and flawless manner, so that final driver Mattia Drudi was able to attack the third-placed driver in front of him during his stint. In a gripping finale and several touches, the Italian narrowly missed out on a podium finish and brought the car across the finish line in fourth place.
The race was more mixed for the #11. Starting driver Valente was involved in fierce battles early on and lost many places due to a spin. After that, the two relatively inexperienced drivers Patrese and Blom fought for positions at the back of the midfield, gaining valuable experience in the process. In the end, the team finished 31st overall and 11th in the Silver Cup.
Car Collection Motorsport will continue next weekend at the second round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series. The next event of the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS will be the Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch from 30.04. – 01.05.2022.
