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Bright light, but also some shadows showed up for Team Tresor by Car Collection at the Sprint Cup of the FANATEC GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS in Magny-Cours. While the team was able to celebrate a celebrated Pole Position and a podium finish on Saturday, the team had to fight its way through the field from far behind on Sunday after a mixed qualifying session and also had to accept a retirement in a promising position.
The weekend went much better for Car Collection Motorsport at the 12h of Hockenheim. Here the Kirchhoff-Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 not only took Pole Position, but drove the whole race for the win and finished 2nd overall, winning the GT3-AM class.
GTWC Sprint Cup Magny-Cours
On Saturday, local hero Simon Gachet started the first qualifying session in bright summer weather. The Frenchman, who had already clinched Pole Position here in 2020, was unbeatable on this day and, despite tough competition, set the clear fastest time, which no other driver was able to beat. Team-mate Mattia Drudi, meanwhile, was held up on his fastest lap and could only manage 13th place on the grid.
In the race, too, Gachet showed that he is currently hard to beat on his home track. After starting from Pole Position, he took the lead and irresistibly pulled away from the field. After the pit stop and the change to Audi Sport driver Christopher Haase, the latter found himself in second position and subsequently came under strong pressure from Mercedes star Raffaele Marciello. After a tough duel Haase had to let his opponent go and drove home third place.
Mattia Drudi showed a strong race from 13th position and again pushed the pace before his pit stop. After the perfect pit stop, which succeeded with the second fastest pit time of all participants, his partner Luca Ghiotto came back on track in P5 and also crossed the finish line in this position.
The race Sunday did not show its best side for Team Tresor by Car Collection. Already in qualifying things did not go well for the two drivers Christopher Haase and Luca Ghiotto, so that in this strong environment only positions 12 (No. 11) and 17 (No. 12) were possible.
In the race, Audi Sport driver Haase then had a perfect start and was able to move up to seventh place with a terrific first lap. He then gained another position and was already attacking the drivers in front of him when a technical defect threw a spanner in the works and forced him to retire.
Further back, Luca Ghiotto fought his way forward rank by rank. After the mandatory stop in the middle of the race, Audi Sport driver Mattia Drudi continued to make up positions with very fast lap times and crossed the finish line in eighth place with the Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 coming from 17th place.
12h Hockenheim
The white-blue Audi with the #34 has been an integral part of the 24h Series field for years and also competed in the 12h of Hockenheim with the drivers Dr. Johannes Kirchhoff, Elmer Grimm and Max Edelhoff. At the home race, youngster Max Edelmann really showed off in qualifying and put the Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 on Pole Position. Even after the start, the Kirchhoff-Audi was always able to stay in the leading group and did not let a spin in the hairpin throw it off track. In the end, the driver trio was able to celebrate second place overall and victory in the GT3-AM class.
Foto Credits: Christopher Otto