GT World Challenge Europe: Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts defend their overall lead with victory and podium.
25-08-2024 21:11 -
Magny-Cours . The battle for the title in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS intensified on the penultimate race weekend of the Sprint Cup in Magny-Cours (FRA). BMW M Team WRT drivers Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts (both BEL) took a win and a second place in the #32 BMW M4 GT3, defending their narrow lead in the overall standings. The BMW M Motorsport teams were also able to celebrate on the podium in the Silver and Bronze classes.
Vanthoor and Weerts showed strong comebacks in both races. On Saturday they drove from sixth place on the grid to second place, which became victory after a subsequent time penalty for the first-placed Porsche. On Sunday they went from eighth place to second place. They each had a close duel with the #48 Mercedes of Lucas Auer (AUT) and Maro Engel (GER). In the end, both duos had one win and one second place, which means that Vanthoor and Weerts were able to defend their two-point lead in the Sprint Cup drivers' championship. Both crews have the same narrow gap in the overall Sprint and Endurance Cup standings.
BMW M works driver Dan Harper (GBR) and Darren Leung (GBR) drove the #991 BMW M4 GT3 from Century Motorsport to third place in both races in the Bronze Cup. Harper put on a particularly impressive show on Saturday, when he started from second place and fought for the lead for a long time during his stint. Ultimately, Leung crossed the finish line in first place in the class, but because Harper had pushed an opponent into the gravel in a duel, the duo received a subsequent 10-second penalty and were classified in third place. Harper and Leung lead the drivers' standings in the Bronze Cup, as do Calan Williams (AUS) and Sam de Haan (GBR) in the Silver Cup. The Team WRT duo took fifth and third place in the Silver class in Magny-Cours with the #30 BMW M4 GT3.
