Winward Racing win race 2 of GTWC EU Sprint opener at Brands Hatch

Written by Aaron Carroll

Credit: SRO/JEP | The race winning No.48 Mercedes during Friday practice

Read the race one report here

The No.48 Winward Racing Mercedes driven by Lucas Auer and Maro Engel have won race two of the GTWC Sprint Cup opening round at Brands Hatch in a safety car interrupted race.

The second race of the day at the GTWC EU (GT World Challenge Europe) event at Brands Hatch got underway, with Maro Engel leading the field away from pole position in his No.48 Mercedes-AMG.

The No.69 Verstappen.com car of Chris Lulham started second, ahead of Sandy Mitchell in the No.78 Lamborghini.

Engel got away well on the green flag and began to pull out a gap on Lulham and Mitchell behind, as the Lamborghini driver tried to find a way past the Gold Cup Ferrari. It was a clean getaway from everyone, with no opening lap incidents.

Oliver Goethe in the No.59 McLaren dropped from fifth on the grid to ninth on the opening lap, not ideal for the race one podium finisher. Chris Lulham then started to reel the Mercedes ahead back in, putting in the fastest lap of the race early on.

The No.19 Silver Cup Lamborghini of Baptiste Moulin was given a 10-second time penalty for a jumped start, as he battled for sixth in class and 23rd overall.

Credit: SRO/JEP | The No.51 Ferrari in Race 1

Vincent Abril in the race one winning No.51 Ferrari had a less than optimal start, dropping to 11th in the order. In the first five minutes, the top three had pulled out a gap of nearly two seconds to the No.50 Ferrari of Thomas Neubauer behind, as Neubauer fended off fellow Ferrari driver Konsta Lappalainen in the No.14.

Jordan Pepper in the No.63 Lamborghini had come from the back of the field to 18th in the first 15 minutes of the race, but his charge was halted as he got a drive-through penalty for causing a collision with the No.112. Pepper went for a move up the inside of the McLaren, but tapped the rear corner of the car and spun James Kell around.

Baptiste Moulin in the No.19 Lamborghini went off into the gravel, getting beached and bringing out the first FCY (Full-Course Yellow) of the event. This FCY soon turned into a full Safety Car to allow drivers to regain some tyre temperature. The Safety Car also delayed the pit window period.

Engel once again got away well, with the order staying the same the entire way down the field on the restart. Many of the cars came in on the first lap out of the pits, including the top three.

Meanwhile the No.97 Rutronik Porsche found itself stuck in a gravel trap as all of the cars came into the pits. Race control deicded to bring out the FCY after everyone had completed their pit stops, to ensure no one gained an advantage.

Out of the pits, WRT had the quickest stop, with Auer leading the pack out of the pits in the No.48, ahead of the No.32 BMW of Charles Weerts. The No.69 now driven by Thierry Vermuelen had a slow pit stop and dropped down the order. The No.78 Lamborghini also had a slower stop.

The order after the pit stops was the No.48 Mercedes still leading ahead of the No.32 BMW. Sven Müller in the No.96 Porsche was in third after the Rutronik team had a good stop. The No.14 Ferrari was in fourth with the No.50 of Arthur Leclerc in fifth. The No.78 had dropped to seventh with the No.59 McLaren in sixth.

Credit: SRO/JEP | The No.69 Verstappen.com Ferrari during the pre-qualifying session on Saturday

The No.69 Verstappen.com car dropped all the way down to 11th, crucially behind the No.777 BMW and the No.25 Audi Gold cars. This meant that the Ferrari of Vermuelen was no longer in the lead of Gold. Vermuelen also had to battle the race winning No.51 of Alessio Rovera, for 11th place overall.

As the FCY was finally called there was a close moment between the No.50 and No.96 Porsche. The Porsche broke early to slow for the FCY while the Ferrari braked late. Arthur Leclerc in the Ferrari had to take avoiding action to not hit the back of the Rutronik Porsche. The pair ran fourth and fifth.

The FCY meant that race control called another Safety Car, with just 15 minutes of racing left. When the green flags waved again it was a similar story to before, with the order of the entire field staying the same.

In the Gold Cup, the No.777 still led with five minutes to go ahead of the No.25 and No.69. However the No.25 was under investigation for not serving a penalty during their pit stop.

Back at the front Ben Green went off the track and lost a position to the No.96 and No.50, falling from third to fifth on the penultimate lap.

But it was the No.48 that would take victory in the second race of the weekend, crossing the line to win after an hour of racing.

Provisional Race Results - Top 5

1st No.48 Mercedes - Engel, Auer

2nd No.32 BMW - Weerts, Van Der Linde

3rd No.96 Porsche - Müller, Niederhauser

4th No.50 Ferrari - Leclerc, Neubauer

5th No.14 Ferrari - Green, Lappalainen