After race-long three-way battle for victory
#12 BMW (Edgar/Besler) takes first win after intense fight with #2 BMW (Schrey/Piana) and #3 Audi (Lariche/Consani)
#42 Audi (Guilvert/Hamon) untouchable in Pro-Am to make it two in a row
#53 BMW (Tresoldi/Meloni) retaliates after yesterday's DNF and wins Am Cup
When 44 cars stormed towards turn 1 under a blazing Italian sun, few would have predicted that three of them would stay within a few metres for almost the entire duration of Race 2. Still, the #12 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW, the #2 Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport BMW and the #3 Team Speedcar Audi did just that, creating a race-long three way battle for the lead!
From the second row, Berkay Besler got the best start and immediately took command in the #12 BMW which he shares with Tom Edgar. Pole-sitter Robert Consani was more careful off the line in the #3 Team Speedcar Audi, but would also set up his teammate, Benjamin Lariche, for a second stint in the top 3. The #74 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin (Weyrich/Villagomez) couldn't make a stand from P2 on the grid, and the #42 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi (Guilvert/Hamon) concentrated entirely on Pro-Am championship points from P5. That allowed Gabriele Piana in the #2 BMW to get involved very quickly and hand over the battle for the win to Michael Schrey.
The three cars had been in each other's sights from very early on, with multiple lead changes and close racing across every inch of track. The exact same scenario developed over the entire second stint as the gap between P1 and P3 never exceeded three seconds. Besler and Edgar withstood the never-ending pressure in their #12 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 to take a well-deserved first win of the season.
Behind the fierce battle out front, Joulie/Gedik drove the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW sister car to P4, and De Fulgencio/Lenerz completed the top 5 in the #4 BCMC Motorsport powered by EastSide Motorsport Mercedes-AMG. Great progress was made as well by Potty/Cheli in the #8 Xwift Racing Events Toyota to finish a strong sixth overall.
Seventh place went to the #42 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi of Guilvert/Hamon. It was mission accomplished for the French duo, who had set out to concentrate entirely on a Pro-Am win which they booked with a large margin over the #20 EastSide Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (Bulatov/Mayer). That's number five of the season for Guilvert/Hamon and it puts them well in front for the final two rounds of the season.
Also well in front are Varutti/Piguet in Am Cup, but they didn't take the win in the #10 AVR-Avvatar Porsche this time. 20 minutes before the end, Julien Piguet ran into trouble and spun, handing the class lead over to the #53 W&D Racing Team BMW M4 GT4 (Tresoldi/Meloni). They never looked back and followed up on a crash in Race 1 with a maiden win.
With that exciting Race 2 in the bag, the GT4 European Series Powered by RAFA Racing Club concluded an exceedingly hot weekend at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and now heads into its summer break. Round 5 of the 2023 season will take the field to Germany's Hockenheim on 2-3 September.
