Closest ever season of Fanatec GT2 European Series continues at Spa SRO Speed Week
After three rounds and six races so far, just a handful of points separate both the Pro-Am and Am title fights
Pro-Am leaders, PK Carsport looking for more success on home ground
Henry Hassid holds biggest advantage so far, leading Am by eight points
The Fanatec GT2 European Series heads into its flagship event of the season, SRO Speed Week at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with both the Pro-Am and Am class title fights still too close to call going into the second half of the season.
The field of 2022 heads to Belgium off the back of an intense third-round contest in scorching hot conditions at Misano World Circuit earlier this month, which proved historic on two levels.
Race one produced the first win for Brabham Automotive Factory Racing, Anders Fjordbach and Kevin Weeda in the Brabham BT63 GT2 Concept. The race two result proved the closest in the series’ short history, the PK Carport Audi of Nicolas Saelens and Stienes Longin taking victory by 0.1s whilst 1.064s covered the top four.
It’s taken three rounds and six races for anyone to draw out more than a two-point advantage in either class. As it stands, heading to the challenging 4.352-mile circuit nestled in the Ardennes Forest, Saelens and Stienes Longin head Pro-Am by just six points whilst Henry Hassid has an eight-point lead in the Am standings.
The level of competition will only intensify at Spa, as the series joins SRO Speed Week, 22-24 July, ahead of the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa, 29-31 July.
Saelens & Longin stay on top ahead of Spa
A third win of the season at Misano puts Saelens and Stienes Longin top of the Pro-Am table, helping the PK Carsport Audi duo to extend their lead – albeit to only six points heading into the team’s home round of the season.
Their closest competition comes from within their own team ranks. Peter Guelinckx and Bert Longin have been faultless all season with podiums scored in every race so far. They also took class honours in the series’ inaugural outing at Spa last year, placing them among the favourites this weekend.
Race one winners in round two in Austria, Stefan Rosina and Filip Sladecka lie third and fourth thanks to a pair of third-place class results for the True Racing by Reiter Engineering KTM X-BOW at Misano. Just three points behind, Aurelijus Rusteika and Michael Vergers in the High Class Racing Audi sit fifth after a solid points haul in Italy.
With their first victory on the board, Brabham Automotive Factory Racing’s Fjordbach and Weeda have established themselves as serious contenders to upset the Pro-Am status quo. The pair currently lie sixth.
Luca Pirri and SRO Motorsports Group Founder and CEO Stéphane Ratel also join forces for a second round this year in the LP Racing Audi, having scored a fourth-place finish at Spa last year.
Hassid edges Am advantage
LP Racing’s Hassid is proving a consistent force in the Audi this season. Recording a class win in each double header event so far, he also finished 0.1s away from outright victory at Misano.
The Frenchman now leads the Am class by eight points over Gianluca Giorgi, who has scored a win and four podium finishes in the Ebimotors Porsche. Giorgi will be joined by Alessandro Baccani this weekend.
Hubert Trunkenpolz and Klaus Angerhofer, meanwhile, lead the charge for True Racing by Reiter Engineering contingent, holding third thanks to another podium result last time out.
Closing in on the top three is Elia Erhart, who lies only six points adrift of the KTM X-BOW duo after sealing a second win of the season at Misano. He’ll be joined once again in the LP Racing Audi by Michael Doppelmayr, who lies seventh due to missing round two in Austria.
Hot on their heels is Leonardo Gorini in the LP Racing Porsche, lying just two points further back in fifth. That means a mere gap of 18 points – the equivalent of a second-place finish – cover third to fifth heading into the second half of the season.
The new True Racing by Reiter Engineering driver pairing of Kris Rosenberger and Sehdi Sarmini also rejoin the field at Spa, after an accident in testing led to the #16 KTM’s withdraw from round three.
The Fanatec GT2 European Series action at Spa-Francorchamps begins with two hours of free practice on Saturday, 23 July, ahead of two qualifying sessions at 18:40 and 19:10 CEST. Two 50-minute races are scheduled for 10:25 and 17:00 on Sunday, both of which will be streamed live via gt2europeanseries.com or GTWorld on YouTube.
