Tresor Orange 1 Audi Storms To Victory In Race 2

Mattia Drudi and Ricardo Feller emerged victorious in the second World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup race of the Brands Hatch weekend this afternoon.

The Tresor Orange 1 Audi duo claimed their impressive win from seventh on the grid. It was made possible by a quick pit stop and strong set of outlaps from Drudi following a mid-race safety car period, which valuted the car to the lead.

Feller started the race in the #40 Tresor Audi R8, and climbed to sixth in the opening moments. From there the entire field struggled to make any further moves as the pit window closed in.

As such, it looked like the race win would comfortably go the way of #27 pole-siting Sainteloc Audi. Christopher Mies was in for the start and built a small lead. But the safety car period 26 minutes into the race, called so the #9 Boutsen VDS Audi of Alberto Di Folco could be recovered from a gravel trap, threw the race result up in the air.

It neutralised the field and made for a frantic scramble in the pit lane once the race restarted and the pit window opened. Sainteloc opted to keep Mies in the car as long as possible, but this would prove to be the wrong decision. On older tyres, he was unable to create enough of a gap to hold on to the lead when the cycle was over.

Instead, Mies’ teammate Gregoire Demoustier emerged seventh from the pit stops, and later fell to 18th by the end of the race.

For Tresor Orange 1 it was a completely different story. Drudi pushed hard after getting in the car, claiming the lead after Mies’ stop. From there he would ease to victory, with a 3.7-second gap to the chasing pack by the end.

“It was my first win in GT World Challenge, since I started in 2019,” Drudi said after the race. “I have to thank the guys from an amazing pit stop. I was able to go out an push on fresh tyres.”

Second, behind the winning Audi, was the first of two Team WRT BMWs that completed the top three, scoring a double podium for the Belgian team.

After what was superb effort from Maxime Martin, it was Moto GP icon Valentino Rossi who would steer the #46 M4 GT3 to second in fine style. The Italian kept it clean, ran to a good pace and was rewarded with his first World Challenge podium in front of the big crowd at the circuit.

“I am so happy!” a jublient Rossi said after the race. “Your first podium is always special. We had a chance in Monza but we were not lucky. Max did a great job in Qualifying, he gave me the car in a great position. Perfect.”

The #32 Team WRT BMW took third, ahead of the #159 Garage 59 McLaren which had a strong run to fourth. The #11 ComToYou Racing Audi which started on the front row alongside the #27, finished up fifth after a strong defensive drive from Lucas Legeret in the closing stages.

Legeret had to give everything he had to stop a hard-charging Raffaele Marciello from stealing fifth before the flag. Race 1 winner Marciello came achingly close to getting past in the final two laps, at one point running side by side with Legeret down Pilgrim’s Drop, but he couldn’t make anything stick and had to settle for sixth.

It was nevertheless an impressive performance from him and the Akkodis ASP team. The #88 started a lowly 18th on the grid, but thanks to the performances of Marciello and his co-driver Timur Boguslavskiy, and the fastest pit stop of the race from the mechanics in the garage, the duo secured a strong haul of points.

In the other classes, the #30 WRT BMW claimed the Gold win with a seventh place finish. VSR’s #119 Lamborghini meanwhile, took a surprise Silver win after a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision was handed to the #77 HRT Mercedes after the race, which dropped the car to second in class and 17th overall.

With the World Challenge Europe meeting in the UK now over, the teams shift their focus to the Spa 24 Hours Test Days on May 23rd and 24th.

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Images courtesy of SRO