GT Series

Mixed bag for Audi as Vanthoor wins Macau qualifying race

1 Mins read

Laurens Vanthoor kept his nerve to claim victory in the FIA GT World Cup qualifying race in Macau, but front-row companion Edoardo Mortara spun at the first corner and fell down the order.

With Vanthoor free at the front, after starting in second in his Audi Sport Team WRT Audi R8 LMS, he focussed his efforts on keeping Manthey Racing’s Earl Bamber and Kevin Estre behind him as just over half the laps were run at racing speed.

That was because of crashes for Nico Muller, Phillip Ma and John Shen which required safety car intervention each time due to the tight and twisty nature of the circuit not allowing for easy recovery of stranded cars.

However, that did help Mortara, who had rear-end damage after his spin in which he somehow missed the rest of the field, as his two pitstops to fix the damage were negated because of how slow the safety car laps were meaning he could come out in 13th place and try and recover positions for tomorrow’s main race.

Unfortunately for him, contact with Craft Bamboo Racing’s Darryl O’Young sent the Hong Kong racer into the wall and earned Mortara a three-place grid penalty for the main race meaning he’ll start in 16th place.

Grid penalties weren’t a concern for Vanthoor who claimed pole position for tomorrow’s World Cup race but Bamber and Estre will loom large in the mirrors of the Audi man without even throwing defending World Cup holder Maro Engel and Mercedes teammate Renger van der Zande into the mix – they’ll start fourth and fifth.

814 posts

About author
3rd Year Multimedia Journalism Student at Teesside University, interested in motorsport and writing about it as well. I'm also a qualified pilot but I don't mention that much.
Articles
Related posts
Endurance RacingFIA WECGT Series

Ben Barker Secures Factory Contract with Ford for 2024 Mustang GT3 Campaign

1 Mins read
Ben Barker embraces a new chapter, securing a factory contract with Ford for the 2024 Mustang GT3. An iconic partnership poised for sportscar success.
GT Series

New Lotus Emira GT4 set to reach first customers over summer

1 Mins read
The new Lotus Emira GT4 has passed the homologation process and will be ready to be shipped out to first customers this summer
British GTEndurance RacingGT SeriesGT World ChallengeIMSASuper GT

Honda unveil NSX GT3 customer racing programme

1 Mins read
Honda have launched their NSX GT3 customer racing programme today at Spa-Francorchamps, shortly after the first practice session of the 2017 Total 24 Hours of Spa.