Christian Mansell and Maxi Götz, in the Motopark Mercedes, took a consolation win in authoritarian style in Race 1 at Barcelona, their second of the season. The pair, one of the protagonists of the season but forced out of the title fight by an unlucky late retirement in Monza that deprived them of a double win, were philosophical about the situation: “We would have preferred to come here to fight for the title, but that’s racing. We overcame the disappointment and are here to enjoy the last round of a nice season.”
The Mercedes beat two of the title challengers, the ZRS Porsche of Alex Fontana-Pietro Armanni and the Greystone GT McLaren of Zac Meakin-Dean Macdonald. Both revived their hopes as championship leaders Tom Emson-Tom Lebbon, in the Elite Motorsport, suffered a ‘zero day’ after being an innocent victim of the first corner mayhem.
Emson-Lebbon still have a 6-point advantage on Meakin ahead of tomorrow’s decisive race, with Fontana-Armanni still mathematically in the title race by only one point.
On its side, Greystone GT brilliantly secured the Teams’ title.
In Pro-Am, Alexander Fach and Alexander Schwarzer, in the Fach auto Tech Porsche, won ahead the class-leading Blackthorn Aston Martin, which keeps a six-point advantage in the standings.
It was a whole Polish podium in Am, with Krystian Korzeniowski taking a second win solo in the Olimp Racing Ferrari, ahead of Piotr Wira-Denis Waszek (Goodspeed Aston Martin) and Seweryn Mazur in the Sendom Racing Lamborghini. Joel Monegro (Fach Auto Porsche), today fifth, is one point awat from the title.
THE RACE – At the start, poleman Mansell has a perfect launch ahead of Mettler, Pedersen, Neubauer and Cresswell, but there is turmoil at first corner right behind the front-runners as Meakin tries to rejoin from outside the track and hits Mazepin, who goes sideways collecting Osborne, with also Testa, Plan and Lebbon forced to go into the trap. The safety car is deployed to recover the McLaren while Mazepin makes it to the pits with severe damage on the front. The other involved cars rejoin. Later, the #33 McLaren will receive a 10-second penalty.
Behind the leading quintet, Meakin is sixth ahead of Armanni, Fach, Buurman and Korzeniowski (who drives solo). Lebbon is 29th. The positions do not change much up to the pit stop. Mansell’s gap won’t exceed 3 seconds, with Mettler in second leading a compact group including Pedersen, Neubauer, Meakin, Cresswell, Fach and Armanni. Slightly further, Buurman is ninth ahead of Buurman and Waszek, first in Am.
The driver change window opens in lap 14. When all changes are made, and after a few laps into the second stint, when things have stabilized (lap 30), Götz leads with 8 seconds on Fontana, 18 on Macdonald, who has charged strongly from the back, 23 on Veselaho, and 26 on Davies, with Schwarzer, Colavita, Müller, Chaves (also on a solid charge) and Pedersen following. In Am, Korzeniowski has taken the lead from Wira.
In lap 33, there is a fierce contact between Baumann and Müller, as the Austrian tries to pass the Swiss on the inside. The Motopark Mercedes has front damage, while the SPS one hits the wall. The safety car is out, and the race ends under yellow.
