Audi One-Two In Second Monza Race

[Steve Q]

PK Carsport’s Pro-Am duo Peter Guelinckx and Bert Longin bounced back from their frustrating result on Saturday to claim victory in the second Fanatec GT2 European Series race at Monza (18 April).

Audis finished one-two courtesy of Stephane Ratel and Luca Pirri (LP Racing) who crossed the line just 0.6s behind, while Michael Vergers (Porsche) held off a charging Anders Fjordbach to seal the final podium place alongside his Speed Factory Racing co-driver Aurelijus Rusteika.

The Am Cup winners were only decided on the penultimate lap when Christoph Ulrich passed Hans Joachim Stuck. Sportec Motorsport’s KTM that Ulrich shares with Adrian Spescha spent most of the opening stint fighting for the overall lead but dropped back to ultimately finish fifth following its seven-second Success Penalty and a subsequent stop-go.

True Racing by Reiter Engineering’s Klaus Angerhofer and Hubert Trunkenpolz (KTM) completed the Am podium.

AUDIS PICK UP THE PIECES, KTM FIGHT BACK AT THE LAST

A race of two halves would best describe this weekend’s second Fanatec GT2 European Series contest, which fell Audi’s way in Pro-Am despite not having the best of the early running.

In reality, Patrick Zamparini’s pole sitting Am Cup Huracan failed to complete a racing lap after pulling into the pitlane as the grid streamed towards the line, which left the way clear for Kris Rosenberger and Adrian Spescha to battle up front.

The two KTMs ran nose-to-tail throughout an opening stint in which Spescha desperately sought a way past. The private battle was only resolved when Sportec’s #7 X-Bow spun exiting Ascari, which should have allowed Rosenberger to pull clear. Instead, a subsequent slow pitstop dropped co-driver Hans Stuck out of overall contention.

That, plus seven-second Pitstop Success Penalties for Speed Factory Racing and Sportec, elevated the Audis of PK Carsport and LP Racing to first and second after Peter Guelinckx and Stephane Ratel completed the opening stint in third and fifth.

Their respective co-drivers, Bert Longin and Luca Pirri, spent the rest of the race no more than three seconds apart but also never close enough for the lead to change hands. The result came as a tonic for both teams whose races were compromised – and in the latter’s case, ended – at the start yesterday.

Instead, all eyes were on Anders Fjordbach who closed in on the top-three over the second half of the race. High Class Racing’s #33 Audi – which won on Saturday – briefly took third from Michael Vergers on the final lap before the Porsche powered back ahead to seal the final podium place.

A stop-go penalty compromised Stefan Rosina and Sedhi Sarmini’s run to fifth, while Ulrich recovered from Spescha’s earlier spin and three-second stop-go penalty for making a short pitstop to hunt down and pass Hans Stuck over the closing laps.

After two races, Patterson and Fjordbach are tied at 37 points apiece with the Guelinckx/Longin #81 Audi at the top of the Pro-Am standings.

That puts them just four points clear of Rusteika and Vergers in the Speed Factory Racing Porsche in third.

Spescha and Ulrich hold the upper hand in the Am Cup by 13 markers over Trunkenpolz and Angerhofer; just one point splits the battle for third, with Zamparini and Collado’s win on Saturday enough to keep them ahead of CMR’s Ferrari duo of Alexis Berthet and Patrick Michallier.

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