Akkodis ASP wins at Nürburgring

SRO

Jul 31

Akkodis ASP wins the Nürburgring round and Marciello, Gounon, Boguslavskiy take the lead of the Endurance Cup drivers’ standings ahead of the last round at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.

📷 Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring.

As #88 Akkodis ASP Team and Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar #777 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO dominated Friday’ sessions they both dominated Sunday’s program delivering a one-two in the three hours race at the Nürburgring after the #88 Mercedes-AMG trio clinched pole during qualifications sessions.

Three Mercedes-AMG GT3 qualified in two first rows

📷 Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. Grid after qualifying.

The three Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO #88 - Akkodis-ASP drivers did set the combined fastest lap in different weather conditions with Marciello being fastest under wet track, P8 for Boguslavskiy during drying session and Gounon in last dry session. Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Jordan Pepper in the #63 Lamborghini clinched first row with P2 ahead of two Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO: #777 - Mercedes-AMG Team Al Manar trio qualifying ahead of the #87 Akkodis ASP car.

Three Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II (#40 in P5, #25 in P8 and #11 in P9) as well as Lamborghini #6 and Gold Cup pole #157 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG in P7 completed the top 9.

Mercedes double

Interestingly, with the retirement of #87 Mercedes and #63 Lamborghini, the remaining 7 cars of the top 9 in qualifying ended the three hours race in the top 9 together with #96 Porsche and #32 BMW M4 GT3.

Raffaele with the #88 Akkodis ASP Mercedes took immediately the lead.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. Start of the penultimate round of Endurance Chalenge Cup.

Olsen with #96 Porsche 911 jumped from P11 on the grid to P3 at the exit of Mercedes-Arena, Mies with #11 ComToYou Audi from P9 to P4 and the two Lamborghini dropped in ranking.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #88 lead #777 Mercedes-AMG and Olsen in Porsche #96.

Timur Boguslavskiy took over the wheel of the #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes from Raffaele Marciello after almost all cars had pitted still leading the pack of GT3.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. Marciello helping Boguslavskiy harnessing in the #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes.

When Jules Gounon took over from Boguslavskiy he dropped to P3 during the last round of pitstops and was under serious pressure from Luca Stolz with #777 - Mercedes-AMG Team Al Manar.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring.

After the round of pitstops, Gounon took the lead and resisted to Stolz securing the victory of the #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes trio. Thanks to this second victory in the Endurance Cup, Akkodis ASP leads the Endurance Cup Overall Team with 15 points and the trio Buguslavsky, Raffaele, Gounon leads the Endurance Cup overall Drivers with 18 points.

Akkodis ASP is also increasing its lead ahead of Team WRT to 39 points in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Team (combining Sprint and Endurance races). Buguslavsky and Raffaele are increasing their lead in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Drivers to 65 points ahead of Eng, Wittman and Yelloly who are now third behind Gounon who did not collect the 47 points clinched by his teammates in the Sprint races.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #88 Akkodis ASP Team Mercedes cross checkered flag first.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #777 - Mercedes-AMG Team Al Manar

Maro Engel moved from P4 to P3 in the second lap and handed over the #777 Mercedes-AMG Team AlManar Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO from GetSpeed to Fabian Schiller. After the first round of pit stops, Schiller was second. Luca Stolz during the last stint came back in the bumpers of Gounon who defended his P1. Stolz ended 1.990 seconds behind Gounon.

Two Audi in P3 and P4.

M. Drudi with #40 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II was in P7 during the first part of his stint and his do-driver D. Marschall was fourth after the first round of pit stops. Ricardo Feller took over to pass the #96 Porsche in P3, earning a podium seat to the team.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #25 Sainteloc Junior Team Audi.

C. Mies with #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II was in P6 during the first hour handing over to S. Gachet in P5. Patrick Niederhauser passed #96 Porsche during the last 10’ of racing to cross checkered flag in P4 .

Rutronik Racing Porsche dropped from P3 to P5

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. With less than 20’ to go, #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche was still in P4 ahead of #25 Audi.

After a brilliant start jumping his #96 Rutronik Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R from P11 to P3, Olsen handed over to Heinrich in P2. Once the first round of pit stops were over, Heinrich was in P3. After the third round of pit stops, Preining as in P4 but dropped to P5 with four laps to go.

Winward Racing wins Gold Cup and end P6 overall

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. #157 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

David Schumacher was at best in P5 during his stint with #157 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. When Miklas Born took over, he was seventh behind the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R. With the #54 Porsche dropping to 10th during the last half hour, Marius Zug crossed checkered flag in P6 overall also earning the podium top seat in Gold Cup.

The first BMW M4 GT3 is 7th overall

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Nürburgring. Team WRT #32 BMW M4 GT3.

Charles Weerts with the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 #32 was in P20 during the first half of the race behind the #46 sister driven by Valentino Rossi whom he overtook at the end of his stint. Sheldon van der Linde took over to be in P14 after the first round of pit stops. van der Linde drove brilliantly his #32 BMW to P11 at mid-race, handing over to Dries Vanthoor in P9 after overtaking the two ROWE Racing BMWs. Vanthoor benefited from the drop of #6 Lamborghini to P9 and #54 Porsche to P10 ending the race in P7.

Detailed results here