Team Tresor by Car Collection had an eventful race weekend at the Sprint Cup of the Fanatec GT World Challenge powered by AWS in Zandvoort. While on Saturday the #11 with Simon Gachet and Christopher Haase had a much celebrated podium, the car had to be taken out of the race early on Sunday after a contact with the opponent. The sister car with the #12 finished ninth on Saturday after minor technical problems and a great fight. On Sunday, Luca Ghiotto and Mattia Drudi crossed the finish line in 13th place after a hard-fought race with several contacts.
Saturday
As in the last round of the Sprint Cup in Magny Cours, Saturday went much better than Sunday for Tresor by Car Collection. Both Simon Gachet in the #11 and Luca Ghiotto in the #12 offered top performances in qualifying and finished the qualifying session, in which the grid positions were determined, in second and fourth place.
After the start, both cars fell back a little. In addition, the #12 had a minor technical problem during the pit stop, which cost valuable seconds and positions. In the second half of the race, a safety car helped the field to come together again. As a result, the two Audi Sport drivers Christopher Haase in the #11 and Mattia Drudi in the sister car offered great overtaking moves. Haase was able to move up from sixth to third place on the podium. Drudi improved to ninth position.
Sunday
On Sunday, both Christopher Haase and Mattia Drudi were very unlucky in qualifying when a red flag forced both to retire at the peak of their tire performance on the way to clear personal best lap times. The result was two midfield finishes of ninth and tenth.
Experience has shown that when starting in the middle of the field, there is a high risk of contact and collisions. After just a few laps the starting driver of the #11 Christopher Haase was hit hard by an opponent and forced off the track. This damaged the suspension of the Audi R8 LMS Evo II so that Haase had to pit the car.
Mattia Drudi and Luca Ghiotto in the #12 were also involved in hard battles and had to take several strong hits. Nevertheless, they kept the car in the race and were able to attack again at the end as a result of a safety car phase. Unfortunately, Ghiotto lost a few positions during the ensuing duels and finished in 13th place.
For the championship chances in the Sprint Cup, the retirement of the #11 on Sunday was a major setback. Haase and Gachet are currently sixth in the Sprint Cup standings, 32 points behind the leaders. Drudi and Ghiotto follow in eighth position. In the overall standings of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe pwd. by AWS, however, Team Tresor by Car Collection is in a good third place. The next Sprint Cup race is already in two weeks in Misano.
Foto Credits: Christopher Otto