Ciao a tutti. Benvenutti a la garra di apertura della stagione 2022 dell'SRO GT World Challenge Europe, la tre ore Imola all'Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola. This is the opening event of a five-race season for GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. There will also be five rounds for the Sprint championship on an entirely different calendar at different tracks. Today, we are solely focused on what is going to happen with the endurance championship opener. As you know, on the pole for today's motor race is the WRT Audi team, and Audi secures a front row lockout with WRT and Sainteloc. Car #32 in WRT colors for Dries Vanthoor, Charles Weerts, and Kelvin van der Linde on the pole. On the outside of the front row, the #25 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi in the hands of Lucas Legeret, Patric Niederhauser, and Christopher Mies. Audi, Mercedes, and McLaren are the cars to watch at the top of the shop on this grid. The now fully homologated BMW M4 GT3 makes it's debut in SRO racing in Europe, today. Those cars will roll off ninth and 18th and we shall talk more about them as the race gets underway.
Pro-Am, Silver, and the new Gold Cup category will be talking points today. Remember, in SRO racing, every car is GT3 spec and the only real difference is in the driver ratings. Pole in Silver Cup goes to the #99 Attempto Racing Audi for German drivers Alex Aka and Marius Zug alongside Austria's Nicolas Scholl. Gold Cup polesitter is the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 to be driven by Austrian Lucas Auer, Lorenzo Ferrari of Italy, and German Jens Liebhauser who we have seen race a BMW M6 GT3 before. They topped the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Italian veteran Alessandro Balzan, Frenchman Hugo Delacour, and Monagasque Cedric Sbirrazuoli.
A whole new season begins today. Fans are back at this historic track. The racing is always wonderful. New cars, teams, drivers, and Pirelli tires. This is an old school circuit. We are going to see a fabuoous race today. There is a combined champi0nship with endurance and sprint, and the different levels of driving we have spoken about. Tons of different cars are on the grid. 65 minutes per stint with a five minute grace period for safety cars. Points in each class go to the top ten. The big talking point is Valentino Rossi, the 9-time MotoGP champion who is stepping up full-time to car racing after being a legend on the motorcycles for a quarter century.
He is teamed up at Audi with Fredric Vervisch and Nico Muller. Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts teamed up for the Sprint and Endurance championships. The sprint races, we will cover in some way this year when they start. Stay tuned for that. Nicklas Nielsen, the reigning enduro champion, he has new co-drivers as Come Ledogar is a Porsche driver and Alessandro Pier Guidi has stepped aside from GT3 and is focusing on other sports car racing championships. Come Ledogar has run for Ferrari and McLaren, ad he is abck to racing with Porsche and now with Dinamic Motorsports. He is teamed up with Matteo Cairoli and Klaus Bachler at Dinamic.
Mirko Bortolotti is back at Lamborghini but with Emil Frey Racing in 2022. He is excited to be racing with the Emil Frey team. Raffaele Marciello is back at Mercedes. He did not have the best 2021, not the season he wanted. But he is back and strong this year at Akkodis ASP under team boss Jerome Policand, a former driver. Sky Tempesta Racing has the same driver lineup, but they have changed over from the Ferrari 488 GT3 to the Mercedes AMG GT3 and they are registered for the Gold Cup. Aston Martin are back with two cars. Beechdean AMR run by former British GT champ Andrew Howard, the team is ready to roll. He will be driving alongside Belgian veteran Maxime Martin.
Garage 59 switch from Aston Martin to McLaren. Alexander West of Sweden teams with former rival, Portuguese driver, Miguel Ramos. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The Euro races make up a global series which encompasses Europe, Australasia, Asia, and America. We have had Australian races. Yours truly has been looking for them. Not sure where they are. We'll talk about them later on. Fans are back. We no longer seem to need masks for the virus. It is still there, but the scoop is, fans are just here to have fun and enjoy the racing again. Stephane Ratel, the boss man, the Governor, he is here. After two years of the pandemic, we are back to full strength and it is a blessing to have Valentino Rossi on the grid.
The Balance of Performance is close with a new Pirelli tire and everyone is ready to roll;. This race is going to be a good one and Ratel says, "I have no idea who the favorite is." We are glad to see Valentino Rossi here. Jens Liebhauser is stuck in the lane and he will get out on track soon. He has his Mercedes AMG GT3 ready to go. This is an old school track at Imola that appeals to everybody. Our buddy John Watson raced here, 50 years ago, in Formula 1. Tosa, Piratella, these are key turns. Watch for track limits. Everyone has GPS to monitor track limits. So, you have nowhere to hide. Watch the Variante Alta, too. There is a single cone that was abused over there and that poor old cone absolutely got clobbered.
It is dry now but we may see rain before this motor race is done and dusted. Charles Weerts is happy to be on pole but is not happy that he had traffic in the way. He is ready to race and stay in the spot where he is, and grab a boatload of points. Yves Weerts, Charles' dad, and team strategist, he is confident. The marshals have been busy. We've seen non stop action. We have two GT4 races that ran yesterday and we are going to cover those later this week. Stay tuned. Those events are going to be fun too. Valentino Rossi, in qualifying, he hit ture inside curb, and he recovered it quickly. That is his motorcycle experience showing that he can keep the car in one piece.
Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon, they are ready to go. Marciello, the Swiss domiciled Italian says he had more in his pocket during qualifying but has a plan to go for it against the Audi's. A brand new car. Rain is here. Frenchman Jules Gounon is set to go and he might look for rain. He says the qualifying session worked well and the car is spot on. Davide Rigon is back in the #71 Iron Lynx Ferrari. Jack Aitken is back too in the Emil Frey Lamborghini #63. Both these boys got rattled around at Spa last summer. We have GT4 and GT2 to race too. We are going to see those later. Now, one of the Audi's is still in the pit lane being fixed and will have to start from the lane. The lane is closed. Can they start or will they be scratched? We'll see.
Nick Yelloly, Augusto Farfus, and Nicky Catsburg in the Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3, they are set to go. The Mad Panda Motorsports Mercedes has also been dropped. Another drop was the #5 HRT Mercedes of Hubert Haupt, Florian Scholze, and Arjun Maini. Marco Sorensen, the Dane, is driving one of just two Aston Martin's on the grid in 2022. He is ready to go and ready to step up to do battle. Overtaking will be a challenge here at Imola. Sorensen and Nikki Thiim are ready. They are FIA World Endurance Champions as well. The Rob Bell, Marvin Kirchofer McLaren will be a major contender too. Tire temperature will be a major deal on this cool spring day at Imola. The tires will be stone cold at the start, so watch yourself into Tamburello with 52 cars on the grid. We had 48 GT4 entries a while ago and they had issues too. Again, you don't want to miss GT4. We're going to see those races later on. Later this week, you will hear about them.
We have Pro, Pro-Am, Silver, and Gold drivers. We're ready to crank the engines and send the cars off on their formation lap. Nigel Bailly at the wheel of the #107 Bentley followed by the Lamborghini of Rob Collard, Sandy Mitchell, and Alex MacDowall, and all-British trio. You can't win a race at turn one but you sure as heck can lose it. Now, the cars are on the formation lap. We are set for the race. So glad to see the fans back. 52 cars ready to race. We're ready for a start. This is going to be fun! 52 cars trying to squeeze into Tamburello. That'll be an adventure.
Be patient. Wait, say what? OK. Red lights on. Red lights, out. Away we go! Weerts leads while Marciello swamps one of the Audi's. So far so good through the first handfull of corners. Audi 1-2. Weerts weaves the tires to warm them. The track and ambient temps are cool. Out of Tosa for the first time. Christian Klien in the first of the McLaren's and one of the Porsch'es pushing into Acqua Minerale. Through Variante Alta and they are still weaving their tires to warm them. This brand new Pirelli tire needs heat and I mean now. Through to Rivazza and we see single file racing as Giacomo Altoe makes a pass. Charles Weerts leads and it is a clean start, look. Now then, we see Altoe passing Nick Yelloly. We spoke too soon. One of the cars has spun in the Villeneuve chicane.
Raffaele Marciello in the Mercedes, biding his time and we have a safety car on the speedway, look. Safety car on the speedway. Sarah Bovy, out. Patrick Krupiniski crunches the wall in one of the McLaren's. So, we have the Iron Lynx Iron Dames Ferrari out and one of the McLaren's, with carbon fiber all over the road. So, we need to clear this up and need a replay to see how all of this mess happened. Louis Machiels still on the lead lap, he may have been tagged and spun off. What a wild first lap or two! Ferrari #52 will perhaps be pointed by the safety car. Audi #33 did not start the race. #57 and #911 also have made pit stops for new tires probably because of all the carbon fiber shards out there.
#33 is one of the WRT Audi's being shared by Ryuichi Tomita of Japan, and French father and son (or brothers), Maxime and Arnold Robin. The McLaren is still sitting in the gravel trap and no one has moved it yet. In replay, we see a good start from Weerts while others did as well. Aston Martin had a chance to move into a higher spot. Jonathan Hui in the #93 Sky Tempesta Mercedes was passed. Lamborghini #563 could have fluid spewing out. That is the Yuki Nemoto, Benjamin Hites, Michele Beretta automobile. How can 52 cars squeeze their way through the chicane? Hard to say. In replay, we did see one of the McLaren's go off the road at Rivazza.
We did see the Ferrari spin with assistance from the McLaren. Safety car in this lap, according to Race Director Alain Adam. So, we are back to green flag on this lap. Rivazza is downhill and under braking. So that is a tricky turn. Miguel Molina runs ninth in the #51 Iron Lynx Ferrari. The front half of the field has separated itself from the rest. Christopher Mies will want to go after Charles Weerts and pressure him. Lights out atop the safety car. The #911 Porsche 911 GT3R of Ralf Bohn pitted for a damaged tire. Green flag. Now, Weerts is off like a rocket. Christopher Mies, and the others, they are on it. Raffaele Marciello is staying put for the time being. Wriggling through Villeneuve, Charles Weerts and Christopher Mies are going for it as Nikki Thiim wants by Christian Klien in the McLaren. Klien an ex F1 driver years and years ago for Red Bull.
Thiim in the Aston Martin is monstering Klien through the Variante Alta. Klien has a Porsche of Klaus Bachler all over him. Klaus Bachler has the momentum to try and pass Maro Engel. Porasche vs. Mercedes. Nikki Thiim sweeps past Christian Klien too, look. Cars are everywhere looking for track position. GT3 cars of many shapes and sizes. This is a whole cluster of cars. A cluster buster indeed. Nick Yelloly is monstering Jack Aitken. Incident between #57 and #83 being investigated. Winward Mercedes of Jens Liebhauser vs. the Iron Dames Ferrari. Not sure which of the ladies is at the controls right now. Down through Rivazza, look, a major pass as Neil Verhagen, the American, gets passed by Hugo Valente. Nikki Thiim passes Christian Klien with Maro Engel keeping a watching brief along with Marius Zug. Oh dear. Charles Weerts off the road and Christopher Mies sees the open door and steps his way through. Weerts scrabbles his way across the grass!
There's little in it on overall lap time with all these cars. Raffaele Marciello is probing, moving in. Christopher Haase next up through Rivazza. Nick Yelloly a tad off the road in the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3. Christopher Mies leads Weerts by a second. Jack Aitken being harried by the new BMW. Uphill they go. Mies is trying to make good his escape. Charles Weerts has to cool off and still has Raffaele Marciello behind aboard the Mercedes. Nicki Thiim has cleared away from the McLaren of Christian Klien. Thiim is pushing and he wants by the McLaren. Christopher Haase, too, he will have a head of steam as well, look.
Flashing the lights ain't workin'. So, everyone is running 276 clicks through Tamburello. 172 and a half miles an hour. Meantime, we can see that there's track limits for one of the Audi's as Adam Eteki goes wide at Rivazza. Adam Eteki in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Racing Audi R8. He moves 'round Hugo Delecour in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari. We have 20 minutes on the board already and will see pit stops at or just over the end of hour one of three. Garage 59 have moved back to McLaren from Aston Martin. Alexander West sharing with Henrique Chaves and Miguel Ramos. The Swede teamed with the two Portuguese drivers. Uphill to Piratella, and Nikki Thiim is pressing hard. His dad, Kurt Thiim was a DTM champion. Thiim, a GT racer through and through. He is a personality too.
Through to Rivazza again, it is an Audi parade thus far. Christian Klien is harrying a backmarker and the Jack Aitken and Nick Yelloly story is still being written, through Villeneuve and into Tosa, the BMW is right on his six. If the BMW moves by the Lambo, it is gone like a rocket. Aitken raced here at Imola in 2015 in Formula Renault in open wheel racing. Klien is really pressing hard. Jordan Love pinged for track limits aboard the #4 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes.
Wow. Argy bargy between Aston Martin and Audi there as Nikki Thiim, he slides past the Audi #12 Tresor by Car Collection Audi. Jonathan Hui is monstering Rob Collard as the #90 Mad Panda Mercedes is pinged for track limits, Dusan Borkovic at the controls, the Serbian driver. So, Christopher Mies leads and is building the gap. Hugo Valente off the road out of Villeneuve. Whoa! That's a spin and the pack scatters! He was jolly lucky he didn't get smashed! Ride 'em cowboy! Yikes! Christopher Mies leads as Charles Weerts is really pressing on. Nikki Thiim is all over Raffaele Marciello. Thiim has clear road ahead of him. Weets 1.9 seconds behind the leader. Raffaele Marciello third in the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes.
Thiim, the #95 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage. Christopher Haase, in fifth in the #12 Tresor by Car Collection Audi. Jonathan Hui moves in on Rob Collard at Piratella and Collard slams the door in Hui's face. That was force majeur through Piratella. Nothing he can do. Hui has Mike Parisy in the AGS Events Lamborghini, look. Valdemar Eriksen the Swede, next up in another Mercedes. Parisy, the veteran Frenchman. Two Lamborghini's hot on the heels of the Mercedes. Dusan Borkoiv really has a battle on his hands with two of the Lamborghini's. #27 for Leipert Motorsports is one of them. Mies is beginning to lap cars going past Nigel Bailly, a driver with a disability who was paralyzed after a motorcycle crash. But, he has been successful in several forms of car racing.
Warning flag for track limits to at least four cars. Yikes! Raffaele Marciello is stuck now behind Bailly and Bailly knows discretion is the better part of valor. Jonathan Hui is pressing Rob Collard who is subbing for Adrian Amstutz who is on business this weekend. Rob Collard's two sons, Ricky and Jordan, both race. Four brands in the top five on the speed charts. Cannot look at the speed charts because of all the scrapping going on now. Through Acqua Minerale to Variante Alta. Marius Zug is right behind Klaus Bachler now. Pirelli have this new tire for the SRO and adaptation is necessary because the tire has just not been tested too much yet. More track limits warnings as Jack Aitken loses time to Miguel Molina.
Mike Parisy in the Lambo caught speeding into the pit lane. He will cop a penalty. Deary me. Rob Collard spun into the gravel at Rivazza. He could have been biffed into a spin there before the apex of the turn. He is beached. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Full Course Yellow. We have now run for almost 40 minutes. No safety car needed as drivers slow down immediately, and then, the safety car will be necessary to pace the field under yellow. Stick to a delta time. You can't gain or lose time. Poor old Christopher Mies has been caught out or so it seems. The gap will disappear undet the safety car. The biggest loser will be the race leader. Safety car on track now. This will be a short safety car scramble once they rescue Rob Collard and his Lamborghini which could be out of the race.
Poor old Christopher Mies is going to have to climb the mountain again, perhaps. Christian Klien will close in on Christopher Haase. Incident between #77 and #3 investigated. That was Valdemar Eriksen aboard the Getspeed Performance Mercedes Eriksen shares with Seb Baud and Jeff Kingsley. Kingsley, the Canadian, Seb Baud from France, and Eriksen is Danish. #33 never started this motor race. The Robin family never started here at Imola. Game over. Nick Yelloly putting heat in the tires aboard the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3. 22 laps now completed. Safety car in this lap. Dries Vanthoor, looking on, wondering how well Charles Weerts will do. Safety car in this lap. We are close to first pit stops.
Raffaele Marciello pressing Charles Weerts. Mies, he shoots himself from the gun, and goes for it! Nicki Thiim, he is going to push like crazy into Tamburello. Marciello slamsmthe door in Thiim's face. Mies leads Weerts by 6/10ths of a second. Raffaele Marciello slams the door in Thiim's face as Thiim is slithering all over the shop, look. Christian Klien and Maro Engel are in the fight, too, look. We have a myriad of fast drivers rounding out the top ten too. Frantic action all over the place as Rob Bell wants to make a move on one of the BMW's. Jack Aitken once again has Nick Yelloly right on his gearbox. Wow. That battle is still simmering.
Miguel Molina is leading this crocodile of cars. Nico Muller in 14th has the #46 Audi which Valentino Rossi will drive and so will Frederic Vervisch. Both of them are very competitive. Rossi is in his first career GT race. He did drive a one off race years ago but now is full-time in cars after his motorcycle heroics for many, many years in MotoGP. Nico Muller is struggling to move his way through the field. A point for pole in each class is also awarded in GTWC Europe in 2022. Whoops! Contact for the #3 GetSpeed Mercedes into the gravel trap at Tamburello. Yikes! Yup. Valdemar Eriksen gets nerfed by Ralf Bohn in the Porsche. Will Bohn's radiator survive that? It was a tap. Hopefully the radiator does not spring a leak.
Through Rivazza, single file from tenth to 16th. Neil Verhagen at the wheel of one of the BMW's. He has myriads of experience in eSports and is getting used to doing the real deal. First pit stops coming up soon. Ten minutes to go before the first hour of the race is in the bag. We have six hours at Paul Ricard and 24 hours at Spa in Belgium later in the year. It is going to be a great season in GTWC Europe in 2022. Marius Zug in one of the Audi's is pressing on as we see a warning flag for the #31 WRT Audi. Overtaking? Nope. Not this time. The Porsche consolidates the place ahead of the Audi. Marius Zug is being fended off by the Dinamic Porsche. Klaus Bachler is in the Porsche right now.
Drudi does not have the front-end grip he needs as we have the #8 Mike Parisy car under investigation again? No. That can't be right. Into Villeneuve, Bachler holds on. Into Tosa, the Audi can make a move. Or can he? Try to be on the inside into Piratella. Easier said than done. Nicki Thiim is still pushing. Charles Weerts is only 8/10ths behind Christopher Mies. Thiim might be loose into Acqua Minerale. Maybe those Pirelli P Zero tires are beginning to fade. Two seconds covers the top four as we are so so close to the end of the hour. Oh boy. Full Course Yellow procedure under investigation for the #563 VSR Lamborghini of Benja Hites, the Chilean driver. Someone has gone off the road. That's the McLaren of Canadian driver Ethan Simioni. Simioni in one of the Garage 59 McLaren's sharing with Manuel Maldonado and Nicolai Kjaergaard.
Rossi is now getting into the Audi as the tires are changed and the fuel is going into the tank. Rossi is ready to go out for his first laps as a GT3 driver. "The Doctor" is in the house. The fuel hose must be connected for 40 seconds to get petrol into the car. Rossi has clear road ahead. It is his first racing lap. Warning flags for track limits to more cars. #2 and #11. Rossi can push like crazy and build confidence through Piratella. He is pressing hard. Down through Acqua Minerale and up over the hill with a loose tail at the back of the car through Variante Alta. Fuel has been spilled in the lane someplace. It is WRT. There is a leak somewhere out of the overflow pipe.
Which car is that? The fire brigade wants to get that fuel spillage cleaned up, stat. Rossi just barely on the lead lap. How will his pace be relative to Christopher Mies? 'Tis true. One hour now on the board. WRT, Sainteloc, WRT. Through Variante Alta they go. Sainteloc will hit the lane soon. We usually see Valentino Rossi's flamboyance, but this is his first GT3 race. Nico Muller set best lap and Rossi is just a second behind. In traffic, Raffaele Marciello is cleared while Nicki Thiim is balked by the Lamborghini. That was a close shave! Back to your regularly scheduled program here on the Sarcasm Channel. Mike Parisy has penalties for track limits, speeding in the lane, and has a five second penalty in his future. A fraught race for the Frenchman. So, Weerts and Thiim are in the lane. Five second penalty for speeding in the lane for Parisy.
Lamborghini #563 back in the race. Mies leads Marciello and now the #32 WRT Audi is in the lane for service. Car #163 is also being investigated for pit lane speeding. Benjamin Goethe in the lane in his Audi as well. To Rivazza, Raffaele Marciello is now behind Valentino Rossi. Marciello into the lane for service. He will hand the car over either to Daniel Juncadella or Jules Gounon. #95 now has Marco Sorensen at the controls. Daniel Juncadella takes the wheel of #88. Kelvin van der Linde now in the #32 WRT Audi. Sainteloc gets passed by WRT. Wow! Sorensen has just moved 'round Daniel Juncadella! The Spaniard caught flat footed there. Jeepers creepers! Sorensen is steaming towards the Audi into Acqua Minerale another time.
Sorensen wants second place. Track limits penalty for the #52 Ferrari. Rossi is catching the #63 Emil Frey Lamborghini of Albert Costa, the Spaniard. Same V10 motor in both cars. Rossi is closing on Costa through Tamburello. Rossi is a real racer. You don't win MotoGP championships just by racing a motorbike. He is a racer through and through. Lucas Legeret has Marco Sorensen all over him and into Rivazza, Legeret slams the door in Sorensen's face. Into Tamburello, Legeret is holding on but barely. Nose to tail they race. Kelvin van der Linde is 4.8 seconds up the road. WRT had a quicker stop than Sainteloc did. WRT are bang on the money with their pit work.
Nikki Thiim says he had loads of fun during his stint racing with the Audi. We're coming up to the halfway mark in this race. Poor old Marco Sorensen is having to clear away from the Audi. Luca Ghiotto, the Italian, co-driver with Kelvin van der Linde, he is moving into the scrap too. Ghiotto with open wheel and GT experience. Legeret has Sorensen all over hik like a rash and Daniel Juncadella wants a bite of the cherry as well. No chance for the undercut on Legeret, driving Marco Sorensen crazy! Let me in! Let me in! Not by the hair of my chin, mate. Legeret, Sorensen, Juncadella, Ghiotto, and Steijn Schothorst. Vincent Abril is next. Mercedes #2 passes McLaren #111. Alex Aka leads the Silver class in the Attempto Racing Audi.
The car in sixth, Steijn Schothorst, sharing with Luca Stolz and Maro Engel, they are on their last track limits warning. Benjamin Lessennes leads Gold Cup in the #10 Boutsen Ginion Audi. Lessennes, the Belgian, sharing with Saudi Arabian Karim Ojjeh and of course, Frenchman, Adam Eteki. In Pro-Am, Stefano Constantini leads in the #52 AF Corse Ferrari. Constantini sharing with Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini. Valentino Rossi is only 6/10ths of a second behind the best lap cut by Nico Muller, his co-driver. His confidence is growing exponentially during his stint and we can see that. Through Tamburello into Villeneuve and up into Tosa. Take a late apex accelerating out, staying to the left.
Piratella is a blind, double apex turn. Then through Acqua Minerale. More track limits warnings. Up to Variante Alta, and then you run down the hill into the next corner downhill into Rivazza. Then, onto the main straight and back towards Tamburello. The sky is brightening up. We need warmth here at Imola! Please! BMW #50, Max Hesse, chasing Leo Roussel in the Lamborghini. Nicky Catsburg, too, he is losing time. So the BMW M4's are not running up to snuff. Then again, this is only their first race in GTWC Europe. BMW celebrates 50 years of the BMW M brand. Through Rivazza again, Max Hesse really wants past that Lamborghini ahead.
That is Leo Roussel, the #19 entry. Roussel was LMP2 champion years ago in European Le Mans Series. We are getting close to the halfway mark. Kelvin van der Linde leads Lucas Legeret by seven plus seconds. So, Valentino Rossi has caught teammate Jean Baptiste Simenauer. Two WRT Audi's. Can Rossi overtake on four wheels? We know he can do it on a motorbike. Simenauer is a Porsche Cup veteran. The Gulf Rothgo Audi passes through. Will Valentino Rossi be able to slice and dice through traffic? We'll see. Spatial awareness is a major deal on a track like this. Rossi is closing the gap. He is reeling in the three cars ahead who have been all over the place.
Rossi makes his move. He is learning race craft in a sports car. We will see the Sprint championship for SRO Europe at Brands Hatch in May. Two one-hour races I believe. We might cover that in video form since those races are so short. Rossi to the outside through Villeneuve! Yikes! Jordan Witt in one of the Lamborghini's gets loose and recovers. Marco Sorensen is just not able to move by. Daniel Juncadella still has Luca Ghiotto going after him. Ghiotto is really showing his hand here. Max Hesse in the BMW, and Ollie Wilkinson in the McLaren next up. Max Hesse is very quick but cannot pass. The BMW M4 GT3 has more pace than does the Lamborghini Huracan. Through Todsa, the BMW is making a move on the outside. Up the hill and, book it. A position gained for Max Hesse.
Cesar Gazeau and Konstantin Tereschenko are also moving up. Nicky Catsburg in the #98 Rowe Racing BMW M4 GT3 as well, moving into position. 47 laps now on the board with just over an hour and 20 minutes to go. Michele Beretta is fifth in the Silver Cup for Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. Beretta ran in Lamborghini Super Trofeo in the United States in recent years. Faisal al Zubair is next up in car #777. That is the Al Manar Racing by HRT Mercedes AMG GT3. Cedric Sbirazzuoli, he is second in Gold Cup in the Ferrari, a man who has raced many Italian cars. Florian Scholze next in the Gold Cup in the #5 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes. More Gold Cup cars in that cluster as well.
An hour and a half to go. Halfway home. Florian Scholze has moved past both Barwell Lamborghini's. Lucas Legeret has plummeted to 14th spot. He ran way off the road at Tamburello in a cloud of dust and fortunately got back on the blacktop. So, Marco Sorensen has moved to second and he is doing his level best to reel in the leading Audi of Kelvin van der Linde. The #163 and #8 are going to be taking time penalties. One is the #8 AGS Events Lambo and #163 Vincenzo Sospiri Racing Lambo. Come Ledogar up to eighth in the #54 Dinamic Porsche ahead of both of the Iron Lynx Ferrari's. Brazilian Daniel Serra in #71 and ahead of him the #51 Nicklas Nielsen. Both of those cars running for Iron Lynx.
Nielsen ninth overall sharing with James Calado and Miguel Molina. Trouble for the #97 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin in the Gold Cup. Theo Nouet of France at the controls, sharing with countryman Valentin Haase-Clot and team boss, from England, Andrew Howard. This could be another Full Course Yellow. Come Ledogar passes the Ferrari and one of the Bentley's. The Bentley is a Pro-Am entry and is a very large car with it's 4 liter turbo V8. Nicklas Nielsen is pressing hard. The Aston is aprked up at the side of the circuit at a strange angle and he did not even close the door! Yellow flags out in sector two on the circuit. Full Course Yellow is caleld for as #27 spins out of Tosa! Yikes! Jordan Witt now stalled on the road. He has to do a reset on that car.
The gaps might shrink down but there will be traffic all over the place. Jordan Witt is trying to restart his automobile and it is game over now for Theo Nouet and company in the #97 Beechdean Aston Martin. Beechdean is an ice cream vendor. Theo needs an ice cream to feel better after retiring from this motor race. Valentino Rossi can relax and catch his breath under this Full Course Yellow. Holy smokes! This race has been extremely busy. I am sweating like a racehorse even commentating on this thing. Holy cow! The Lamborghini is back on track and we wait for the Aston to be removed by the snatch tractor, the forklift. We have just gone to safety car conditions, confirmed by Race Director Alain Adam.
The driver at Aston Martin in #97 lost a transmission and could not shift. #95 is still in the game. Drivers can now run at a faster speed even with backmarkers in the way. Hopefully the safety car scramble will be short. Blue skies now. No clouds to worry about. Maybe the ambient temp will warm up here in the second half. Kelvin van der Linde will want to build his lead back up again. In Gold Cup, Benjamin Lessennes leads but Cedric Sbirazzuoli is coming up fast. James Dorlin is next in the #78 Barwell Lamborghini sharing with fellow Brit Ben Barker and FIA represented driver Alex Malykhin! Huge crash before we go to green! Soemoen has just run into the back of another car!
What on earth just happened in Acqua Minerale?! The Bentley just clouted another car! Damage, major damage to the Bentley! The front end of that car just exploded! There's only eleven minutes to go before we conclude the second hour. Now, what on earth happened here? Mercedes, Mad Panda, and Sean Walkinshaw have been in the lane. Jordan Witt probably got hit. He had an electrical gremlin and the Bentley had no place to go! Comng over the hill to Variante Alta is where we saw this massive accident. Carbon fiber shards everywhere. The cars are being brought to a standstill. We are going to go to a red flag here, I think.
Hold on a second. What is the deal? Never mind. We will get going and remain under safety car. No red flag. False alarm. Cars are still stopping at the exit of Acqua Minerale. There's gravel, carbon fiber, and other junk all over the speedway. Will we see a red flag to clear the debris? There's no alternative. There's no plan B. Maxime Martin is prepping to get into the #95 Beechdean Aston Martin. Tires set for the #46 Ferrari as Valentino Rossi should pit soon. We remain under the safety car. Folks, we need a replay. Carbon fiber is great but when it shatters it is a pain in the fanny for tire engineers. Jordan Witt's Lambo has been cleared away and pulled to safety. Contact between #107 and #27 during the safety car, under investigation. So, it was the #107 CMR Bentley of Belgian Nigel Bailly, the driver with a disability, sharing with his countrymen Stephane Lemeret and Matthieu de Robiano.
Valentino Rossi has driven through the lane and has to go around again! Yikes! The second car in the incident, the #27 Leipert Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Brit Jordan Witt, Dennis Fetzer of Germany, and New Zealander Brendon Leitch. We have seen that team before especially in the 24-Hour Series under Creventic sanction. Wholesale pit stop time for the leaders and so, Michele Beretta leads the motor race. Valentino Rossi now out and Frederic Vervisch takes over the #46 Audi. This is a single pit stop. You don't have to fuel and change tires separately anymore. Arthur Rougier, the #19 Emil Frey Lamborghini is now stopped on the road! Deary me. This Full Course Yellow/Safety Car scramble continues.
Exactly one hour left on the board as Dries Vanthoor is now the best of those who have pitted twice as Jean Baptiste Simenauer is in the lane. Two more in the lane now. Four backmarkers and leader Dries Vanthoor in the #32 Audi. We reshuffle the top of the order. Trying to see who else is contending. SRO, please give us a running order in a crocodile on the screen! #777 and #7 under investigation for speeding in the pit lane. #777 is the Al Manar Racing by HRT Mercedes of Al Faisal Al Zubair, Axcil Jeffries, and Fabian Schiller. #7 is the Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 of Brendon Iribe, Frederik Schandorff, and Ollie Milroy. Green flag this time by #22 under investigation for speeding in pit lane. That is the Allied-Racing Porsche 911 GT3R of German Joel Sturm, Patrick Mathiesen of Denmark, and Swiss driver Dominik Fischi.
Green flag. Back to racing. Matteo Cairoli wants bynthe Ferrari and moves past into Tamburello ahead of James Calado. Dries Vanthoor opens the gap over Gounon, Stoltz, and Drudi. Dennis Lind in the #111 Lamborghini. Full Course Yellow infringement for #563 and no further action for two other cars. Could not pick up which ones. Alessandro Balzan in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari leads Gold Cup standings. Contact into Variante Alta. Not sure who ran off. Ah. It is Karim Ojjeh in the #10 Boutsen Ginon Audi. Spin there, look, at Rivazza for the #87 Mercedes AMG GT3! Another safety car scramble?
Damage to the suspension and the steering rack! So, poor old Casper Stevenson, the Englishman, is off. He shares the Akkodis ASP Mercedes with Tommaso Mosca of Italy and FIA sanctioned pilot Konstantin Tereschenko. We are going to go for another safety car with just over 45 minutes left in this race. It all started on exit of Rivazza. Let's hope we can go green for the end of this race. We are now under Safety Car procedure. Thomas Neubauer leads the Silver Cup in the #30 Audi for ROFGO WRT in the Audi he shares with Benjamin Goethe and Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer. Safety car lights off. Of the 51 cars that started the race, 39 remain. A dozen have officially retired.
Green flag. Dries Vanthoor is on a mission. Jules Gounon has also started well. Mattia Drudi is being pressurized by the McLaren, the #111 entry. This is the JP Motorsports McLaren of Dennis Lind, Christian Klien, and Vincent Abril. Dennis "The Menace" Lind, a former Lamborghini factory ace, is pressing hard. He is now a hired gun who has run well in British GT also sanctioned by SRO. 68 laps now complete with 43 minutes remaining on the board. Maxime Martin is down in 18th spot in the #95 Aston Martin. They fluffed their pit strategy. Ten second time penalty for the #22 Porsche for speeding in the lane as a time penalty at the end of the race. That is the Allied Racing Porsche. Through Piratella and there's loads of action to look at. Cars everywhere.
Driver of the #107 Bentley, and Matthieu Robiano who is the driver, will be taken to hospital for a checkup. Robert Renauer is building a gap over his competition. Bortolotti runs behind Martin in 19th place. Way out of place for both of these veteran GT3 pilots. Vanthoor is eking out a gap on Jules Gounon and on Luca Stolz. This is Audi vs. Mercedes. Dennis Lind in the McLaren is now fifth. Down to Rivazza, Augusto Farfus is now 12th right behind Marvin Kirchhofer in the #38 Jota Sport McLaren. Farfus cannot challenge the McLaren but the new BMW M4 GT3 is running well. Drudi though, he is bashing Luca Stolz. Dennis Lind wants a bite of the cherry too, look.
Bumping and boring up the hill toward Piratella. He is covered by the Audi. He is forcing Mattia Drudi into a mistake. Matteo Cairoli wants to pick up the scraps here in the Pro Cup. Lind right on Mattia Drudi's six who in turn is right behind Luca Stolz. Mercedes vs. Audi vs. Porsche. Three top German brands. Into the Villeneuve chicane, it won't work although Luca Stolz is able to keep ahead of Drudi through Tosa. Nico Scholl in Audi #99 for Attempto is the fastest car through the speed trap at 277 clicks. Vanthoor to Gounon separated by one second.
Luca Stolz is third and he has just uncorked a personal best lap time. If Drudi clears Stolz he can move in on the leaders. He is stymied right now though. To Acqua Minerale, the Luca Stolz driven Mercedes #2 is fastest at that zone. These speeds are in the braking zone and not the corner itself. Jules Gounon is doing all he can to match the Audi. Dries Vanthoor is putting poor old Gounon in the shade. Matteo Cairoli is trying to gain on Dennis Lind while Lind is actually a wee bit slower than is the Italian. That is Matteo Cairoli. Maxime Martin is now 15th in the Aston Martin and he is climbing the mountain but he likely won't get back to the summit.
James Calado runs behind Thomas Neubauer and then comes Marvin Kirchhofer and Augusto Farfus. So, Ferrari over Audi over McLaren over BMW. Ten second time penalty at the end of the race for #777 now second in Silver in the hands of Axcil Jeffries, the Zimbabwean driver. Mattia Drudi screams down the hill into Acqua Minerale, a double apex turn which has changed profile over the decades. Stolz, Drudi, Lind, Cairoli, and more. Robert Renauer has been a winner in the 24 Hour Series which we see a lot. So, Dries Vanthoor has just cleared away from Jules Gounon. We could see in the last half hour that the Audi boys might just have this motor race in the bag.
But it ain't over til it's over. Team Manager of #7 to the stewards immediately. Bas Leinders will meet with the stewards to clarify things. 76 laps now completed. Matteo Cairoli wants by Dennis Lind but just cannot get the Porsche within striking distance of the McLaren. Alexander West is under investigation for overtaking under safety car. That is the #188 Garage 59 McLaren. Last warning, track limits, for the #11 car. That is the Tresor by Car Collection Audi of Axel Blom from Finland sharing with Hugo Valente of France and Lorenzo Patrese of Italy, son of Group C Lancia racer in the '80s and Formula 1 veteran, Ricardo Patrese.
The Porsche and the Ferrari are closing in on the McLaren. Dan Harper is chasing down one of the Emil Frey Racing Lamborghini's. Poor old Dennis Lind has both James Calado and Matteo Cairoli. Robert Renauer leads the Gold Cup in the #911 Herberth Motorsports Porsche he shares with his brother Alfred Renauer and Ralf Bohn. He is ahead of the Ferrari in second for AF Corse in the hands of Alessandro Balzan, Ferrari veteran, who led earlier but was overtaken by Renauer. Jules Gounon has gone purple in the middle sector. 25 minutes left on the board. Pull the pin. It is go time if you want to win this motor race.
Luca Stolz is defending from Mattia Drudi as Stolz is falling away from Jules Gounon. Drudi got his nose ahead of Gounon and that did not work. So then, Dennis Lind pushed but out of Tosa things went pear shaped. Dennis Lind has been dropped down from the fight between Stolz and Drudi. The pace though has been with the boys at WRT. Sainteloc just has not been in range in the last number of minutes. Mattia Drudi though is still pressing hard. Thomas Neubauer, pinged for track limits. Drudi drops away again from the Mercedes. So, Dries Vanthoor leads out of Variante Alta over Luca Stolz, Through Rivazza he goes. He has no traffic ahead.
Jules Gounon continues inching ahead of Jules Gounon who went purple earlier but is losing time in tenths of seconds. No further action in the fracas between #8 and #188. 20 minutes to go. Antonio Fuoco and Patric Niederhauser are moving up on Thomas Neubauer for eighth spot. We've seen Fuoco very competitive in Ferrari's in a few different championships in recent time. The Fred Schandorff McLaren will have to take a penalty as Patric Niederhauser passes Thomas Neubauer and Marvin Kirchhofer and Augusto Farfus also pass! That is the lap from hell for poor old Thomas Neubauer! Oy!
Maxime Martin is now back into contention. The deck has been shuffled here through Rivazza with less than 20 minutes remaining. The top ten in each class score points when the race ends. The lead gap has doubled between Vanthoor and Stolz. But Stolz and Drudi are still fighting and Stolz is gaining while Drudi is losing ground. Drudi is trying his level best to distract Stolz. Use all the tricks in the bag but Stolz has been at it before and he won't crack like an egg under pressure. Maxime Martin vs. Augusto Farfus, former teammates in DTM for BMW. But of course, Martin is now an Aston Martin driver.
Matteo Cairoli is sxith looking at Dennis Lind in the McLaren and he wants to make a move. The sun is dropping low into the sky and obscuring the vision of the drivers in a way, but they are looking farther down the road than the onboard camera shows. Dennis Lind has taken to the McLaren like the proverbial duck to water. 14 minutes left in the race. Antonio Fuoco will be pushing to stay ahead of James Calado. Andrea Bertolini recovering in Pro-Am. Henrique Chaves is doing all he can to pass Finlay Hutchison. Chaves in the McLaren tries to pass the Audi but the Audi comes back and scraps with the McLaren and the Lambiorghini hops all over the grass!
That will be a penalty. That was Yuki Nemoto going for a place. Dan Harper uncorks another best first sector time in the BMW M4 GT3. Just eleven and a half minutes remaining before the race ends. 88 laps now completed. So we will have a few more laps to go. Gravel on corner exit at Rivazza. Antonio Fuoco is quicker than James Calado or so it seems. Calado won't hand it to Fuoco on a plate though. No way will that happen. But that is both Iron Lynx cars. The team will have something to say, maybe. But now it looks like they will just resolve it on the road. Nikki Thiim still holds fastest lap which he set on lap 17. Dennis Lind chased by Cairoli, Calado, Fuoco, and the rest.
Off the road, look, for Mattia Drudi down the hill. He will now have to make up for lost time. He is in the clear but has to pass the Mercedes. He has to clean the gravel and other clag off his tires. He will be kicking himself for that mistake. The hourglass is running out for this race. Marvin Kirchofer has run well. He and McLaren will get a top ten out of it. They might just be at the front in the remaining four races this year. Don't forget there is also the sprint championship. Wow. James Calado very nearly passes Matteo Cairoli into Tosa. No dice. Niederhauser presses on and Marvin Kirchofer is running well. A door is busted on the #7 Fredrik Schandorff McLaren which also has a penalty. That door is going to disappear. He needs to fix that car as the door is busted and is open in a suicide fashion like an early 1960s Lincoln sedan.
Not a pretty sight for a GT3 car that is supposed to have the scissor doors on it. He has to hit the lane. That is very dangerous. Oh boy! James Calado wants to pass Matteo Cairoli. He can't quite make it. Nut he is going for it nonetheless. Is the marker pole still there? Yes. The cone, the bollard has not been squished. No one has done it in! How about that! Oh. In replay, we see that the Porsche ran wide and Calado tried opening the door for Fuoco and Fuoco was stuck. An error out of the Villeneuve chicane. The field is getting backed up by the lead scrum. Time has flown. The lead gap is 6.6 seconds. Robert Renauer leads Alessandro Balzan in the Gold Cup.
One or two more laps to go before the checkers. Less than three minutes. Fuoco darts out of the slipstream trying to rattle James Calado and he can't. New door for the McLaren. Interesting with just dos mas on the board. Dennis Lind remains fifth over the rest of his pursuers. Can Maxime Martin gain a place in the Aston Martin into the top ten over the BMW? He is chasing Augusto Farfus. Aston Martin Vantage vs. BMW M4 GT3. Final lap. The leader is 6.6 seconds ahead. Dries Vanthoor can bring it home along with Kelvin van der Linde and Charles Weerts. Incident under investigation between Yuki Nemoto and Finlay Hutchinson. So, this race is going to remain status quo for the top three and the others and this motor race is virtually over.
Dries Vanthoor through Rivazza for the last time. Checkered flag. Dries Vanthoor, Kelvin van der Linde, and Charles Weerts are your overall winners for Audi! We are sorting out the top ten and will have the class winners here soon for you.
Overall/Pro Cup: #32 Weerts/van der Linde/Vanthoor Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo 2
Pro Am Cup: #20 Baumann/Loggie/Pierburg SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3
Silver Cup: #30 Neubauer/Goethe/Simenauer ROFGO Racing with Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Evo 2
Gold Cup: #911 Renauer/Renauer/Bohn Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R
No Am Cup anymore in SRO GTWC Europe. So, that is all from Imola and the Autodromo Enzo E Dino Ferrari. We still have yet to kick off the Sprint Cup season. The next event in the Endurance Cup will be the 1,000 Kilometers of Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France coming up the first weekend in June. See you there. For now, Arriva derci from Imola in the city of Bologna in Italy.
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