Rutronik Porsche win hectic race one at GTWC Sprint Cup in Zandvoort
- Aaron Carroll
- May 17
- 4 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll
The No.96 Rutronik Porsche of Patric Niederhauser and Sven Müller have won race one in the GTWC (GT World Challenge) EU event at Zandvoort. The No.25 Audi won in Gold, with the No.99 Audi and No.89 Porsche winning in Silver and Bronze respectively.
Race one for the GTWC Europe Sprint Cup event at the Circuit Zandvoort got underway at 3pm local time today, with Bastian Buus in the No.89 Lionspeed GP Porsche leading the 41 car field away from the front in his Bronze Cup car.
In the qualifying session this morning, Gilles Magnus in his No.25 Gold Cup Sainteloc Racing Audi put his car second on the grid, with the first Pro car sitting third - Patric Niederhauser in his No.96 Rutronik Porsche.
Buus got away well and led into the first turn, with Niederhauser getting down the inside of Magnus to take second on the road. Before we made it to turn one however, the No. Ferrari went onto the grass and lost its bonnet.
On the exit of turn one the No.74 Ferrari of Dennis Marschall was spun around, with the Ford and Corvette in the wall too. The sole Ford Mustang got damage from the ensuing concertina and hit the Corvette, sending both spinning into the barriers.
Many of the 41 cars had damage after the opening lap, with incidents everywhere you looked. The safety car came out at the end of the lap to clear the debris and stricken cars.
The No.270 Aston Martin had its engine cover up as it trundled around behind the safety car, needing to come in for repairs. Meanwhile the No.52 AF Corse Ferrari was dragged into the garage to repair its damage.
When we went back to green flag racing, the No.51 Ferrari of Alessio Rovera went for a move on the No.59 McLaren but got compromised and fell back to battle with the No.80 Porsche of Ricardo Feller. The two collided at turn three, Feller hitting the wall and Rovera collecting what looked to be suspension damage.
Back at the front, Bastian Buus still led Niederhauser and Magnus. The No.25 Audi of Magnus would lose a position to the No.66 Bronze Audi of Dylan Pereira, as the Dutchman went around the outside at turn one.
The two Bronze cars in first and third were destined to lose their positions however, with Bronze Cup cars needing to stand still for longer in the pits than the Pro and Gold cars around them.
Despite this, Pereira in the No.66 still charged ahead, setting the fastest lap of the race as he caught the back of Patric Niederhauser in the second placed Porsche.
Eddie Cheever in the No.93 Ferrari and the No.991 BMW of Augusto Farfus both got drive-through penalties for start infringements, just a few minutes before the pit window opened.
Gilles Magnus managed to get back past the No.66 of Pereira, the two Audis swapping positions once again. Further down the order the No.59 McLaren was defending sixth place from the No.48 Mercedes of Lucas Auer.
As soon as the pit window opened, the No.96 and No.25 pit at the first opportunity. They were joined by the No.63 Lamborghini, No.48 and No.9 Mercedes' and many more cars down the order.
Engel, now in the No.48 jumped the No.63 Lamborghini in the pits, with a quicker pit stop for the Winward team. Crucially, the Mercedes also got clear of the No.59, avoiding the need for an on track pass.
The No.48 would get a five second time penalty for an unsafe release in the pits though, meaning Maro Engel would need to create a five second gap ahead of the Lamborghini behind.
Eventually the No.89 and No.66 cars would come into the pits and give up the lead due to their longer pit stops, so the No.96 Porsche now driven by Sven Müller led with 25 minutes remaining.
The No.78 Lamborghini would try a move on the No.59 McLaren, and get past in the final sector in the battle for fifth overall. The No.93 Ferrari would go into the wall at turn three while this was going on, bringing out the yellow flags, but no need for a safety car as Pulcini got the car going again.
As he did, he compromised the second placed Audi, now driven by Paul Evrard, which put both the No.48 Mercedes and the No.63 Lamborghini onto the back of the Gold Cup leader. They trio would catch the No.27 Sainteloc car, the sister car to Evrard in the No.25.
Engel tried to make a move as the No.25 was slowed by his teammate, but misjudged it and backed out, leaving a gap open for the No.63 of Jordan Pepper to take third overall and second in the Pro class.
Pepper soon showed his pace, going down the inside of the Audi to take second place overall, and setting after Müller in the No.96 Porsche for the lead.
Chris Lulham in the Verstappen.com No.69 Ferrari pulled off a pair of brave moves on the to get the car up to 11th, and second in the Gold Cup class. Meanwhile the No.32 BMW had made its way up to fifth overall, after starting the race in 19th.
The No.78 and No.59 battle still raged on, with Hugo Cook and Benjamin Goethe going at it for sixth place overall and fifth in Pro. Engel also got past the No.25 Audi, moving up to third overall. Engel would need to pull his No.48 Mercedes five seconds ahead of the Audi to keep the place.
Maxime Martin in the No.9 Mercedes and Arthur Leclerc in the No.50 Ferrari soon joined the battle for sixth between the No.59 and No.79, the four drivers racing with seven minutes remaining.
They would all hold position however, as the No.96 Porsche took the checkered flag to win race one at Zandvoort. The No.63 Lamborghini followed behind from the No.48 Mercedes, despite their penalty.
The No.25 Audi finished fourth overall, but first in the Gold Cup. The No.99 Audi won in Silver, with the No.89 Porsche won in Bronze after leading overall for much of the opening stint.
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