Lionspeed GP Takes Dominant Brands Hatch Race 2 Victory

Photo: SRO

Lionspeed GP sailed to victory in the second race of the weekend in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup round at Brands Hatch.

The German team dominated the race, with teammates Bastian Buus and Ricardo Feller finishing 3.073 seconds ahead of the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing car of Chris Lulham and Daniel Juncadella to take the squad’s first outright series win and make up for a retirement from Race 1 with power-steering woes.

The pole-sitting No. 80 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo led from the start, with Buus pulling out a healthy gap early on.

The Danish driver fended off a lunge from Chris Lulham in the No. 3 Verstappen Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the start, edging out a steady lead of around three seconds until the pit stop window opened.

Behind the leading pair, Winward Racing’s Maro Engel jumped Max Hesse’s No. 46 Team WRT car at the start before putting pressure on Lulham’s Mercedes-AMG.

Further down the field, Team WRT’s trio of Pro-class BMW M4 GT3 EVOs began to form a train in the top 10 that lasted for most of the race.

Hesse’s No. 46 machine duelled with the Garage 59 No. 59 McLaren 720s GT3 Evo, while South African countrymen Jordan Pepper and Kelvin van der Linde scrapped for a spot in the top-six.

Feller in the No. 80 Porsche emerged ahead after the leaders eventually pitted, with a gap of nearly six seconds to the second-placed Team Verstappen Mercedes-AMG of Juncadella.

The No. 3 car started to cut into Feller’s lead, but Juncadella didn’t have the pace to close the deficit.

Lucas Auer had mounted an offensive on the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG after the pit stops, but soon dropped behind the leaders.

The Austrian was put under further pressure when his No. 48 Winward Mercedes-AMG was handed a five second penalty for a pit stop infringement.

With Valentino Rossi’s BMW just behind, Auer pushed hard to build a gap to the charging Italian and secure a third-place finish. He eventually finished 8.290 seconds ahead of the No. 46 entry.

The top eight remained unchanged after the pit stops, with Rossi’s BMW claiming fourth place ahead of Dean Macdonald in the Garage 59 McLaren.

Team WRT took the following three spots with the No. 32 BMW ahead of the No. 31 car. The Silver-class No. 30 BMW of Ignacio Montenegro and Matisse Lismont finished in eighth overall, taking the Silver Cup victory.

Gold Cup top honors went to Simon Gachet and Romain Andriolo in the No. 555 CSA Racing McLaren.

Results: Race 2

Source: Sports Car 365