Between racing and testing, June is a particularly busy month in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS paddock. Indeed, less than two weeks after Circuit Paul Ricard staged its annual 1000km contest the series was at Zandvoort for the third stop on the Fanatec Sprint tour.
Often the scene of changeable weather, this year's visit to the North Sea coast was almost entirely sunny. A little rain on Sunday morning may have saturated the track, but it did not dampen the spirits of fans around the venue; in fact, the added challenge only whetted the appetite further.
Those who made the trip enjoyed a weekend of close racing, with the title battle continuing to rage between Team WRT and Akkodis ASP. AF Corse maintained its dominance of the Silver Cup, while the Italian squad also moved to the top of the Pro-Am standings after the chequered flag fell on the second contest.
Less than 48 hours later cars were back on-track at Spa-Francorchamps having made the 300km journey from Zandvoort to the Belgian Ardennes. Two days of testing followed on Tuesday and Wednesday as competitors began the final push towards the season's marquee event: the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa (28-31 July). These are the stories and stats from a hectic week of activity.
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Saturday's opening race at Zandvoort saw Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts take a comfortable win from pole in the #32 Team WRT Audi. This represented the 42nd overall Fanatec Sprint victory for WRT and the 46th for Audi Sport, both of which are series records.
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Vanthoor scored his 12th Fanatec Sprint win, taking the Belgian driver level with Maxi Buhk. Indeed, only brother Laurens (14) has more victories than Dries. Saturday's triumph was the ninth for Weerts, placing him fifth on the overall wins list.
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Akkodis ASP struck back in race 2 with a third win of the season for the #89 crew of Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy. In total this was the team's 12 triumph, while the brand has 28 overall wins in Fanatec Sprint competition. Marciello bagged his 10th victory while Boguslavskiy took his fifth in the series.
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Marciello's qualifying form at this season's Fanatec Sprint rounds has been nothing short of outstanding. He topped qualifying 2 for the third event in succession, extended his record number of pole positions to 11, and set a new series lap record of 1m32.093 in the process. Indeed, the Swiss driver has broken the series lap record at all three Fanatec Sprint events this season.
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Marciello also posted the quickest time in race 1, but his run of fastest laps ended in the second contest. The accolade stayed within the Akkodis ASP camp, however, as Jules Gounon posted the best time at the wheel of the #88 Mercedes-AMG.
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Team WRT and Akkodis ASP continue to dominate the overall Fanatec Sprint standings. Weerts/Vanthoor lead the drivers' classification with a 0.5-point advantage over Marciello/Boguslavskiy, while Akkodis holds a 6.5-point lead over WRT in the teams' championship. Expect this battle to go to the wire.
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Tresor by Car Collection continued its fine start to 2022 with a podium finish for its #11 Audi of Christopher Haase and Simon Gachet in the opening Zandvoort contest. This was made possible by a strong second stint from Haase, who battled from fifth to third during the closing stages.
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Attempto Racing earned its first overall podium of 2022 by taking third spot in Sunday's race thanks to the #66 Audi crew of Dennis Marschall and Pieter Schothorst. Marschall qualified a fine third, while local driver Schothorst had the unenviable task of fending off Jules Gounon during the latter stages, holding firm to earn a satisfying home podium.
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After retiring from the opening race, JP Motorsport bounced back in the second contest with an excellent fifth-place overall finish. Zandvoort expert Vince Abril put the #112 McLaren second on the grid and held station throughout the opening stint, while Dennis Lind chased Gounon home after losing ground in the pits. The car is expected to run the remainder of the Fanatec Sprint campaign.
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Dinamic Motorsport earned its best finish of the season in race 2 with the #54 Porsche of Christian Engelhart and Adrien De Leener taking sixth spot. Zandvoort was expected to be a good event for the squad and after a disappointing Saturday they found their form during the second outing, where De Leener held off Audi Sport ace Patric Niederhauser (#25 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi).
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AF Corse took a commanding Silver Cup win in race 1. The #53 Ferrari of Ulysse De Pauw and Pierre-Alexandre Jean was in contention for an overall podium, but ultimately settled for fourth place.
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The #99 Attempto Racing Audi finished second on the road in race 1 but was penalised for a pit camera infringement, costing Alex Aka and Nicolas Schöll a Silver Cup podium. The #87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG therefore took second in class, while the #30 Team WRT Audi moved on to the final step of the podium.
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Attempto made up for this disappointment by winning race 2. Schöll earned class pole, while Aka brought the car home eighth overall and one spot ahead of De Pauw. This was the German outfit's second Silver Cup win of 2022, making them the only crew to beat AF Corse thus far.
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De Pauw/Jean lead the Fanatec Sprint standings in the Silver Cup with 94 points, followed by Aka/Schöll on 64.5. Remarkably, the AF Corse duo also top the combined class standings, despite not competing in Fanatec Endurance competition.
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In Pro-Am, the opening contest saw AF Corse duo Stefano Costantini and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli take victory in their very first race together. Costantini was subbing for the unwell Hugo Delacour, who should return to the #21 Ferrari next time out at Misano. Costantini is already a regular member of AF Corse's Fanatec Endurance programme.
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Garage 59 won race 2, which saw the Pro-Am leaders run at the front of the overall order for the opening stint. Dean MacDonald qualified the British squad's #188 McLaren fifth and on class pole, while rival Christian Klien (#111 JP Motorsport McLaren) was sixth on the grid.
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Klien got the better start and led the opening 30 minutes, but teammate Patryk Krupinski was caught up in a collision that ended the Polish squad's race early. This marked the first time in 2022 that the #111 McLaren has not finished on the Pro-Am podium.
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Miguel Ramos was in the Garage 59 machine for the finish, taking the chequered flag 15th overall. Indeed, the Portuguese driver came home ahead of several Pro and Silver crews, despite serving the minimum pit stop time that must be met in Pro-Am.
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After a frustrating weekend at Magny-Cours, AF Corse duo Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini enjoyed a much better showing at Zandvoort. The #52 Ferrari finished both races in P2, bringing the series’ longest-running duo back into title contention.
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Sbirrazzuoli now stands alone at the top of the Pro-Am standings with 71.5 points, followed by Krupinski/Klien on 66.5 and Ramos/MacDonald on 63.5. Machiels/Bertolini also remain in contention with 54 points.
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At 09:00 CEST on Tuesday, the green flag was shown to begin the TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa test days. More than 60 cars were present in the Belgian Ardennes, taking advantage of sunny conditions and the 16 hours of track-time on offer.
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Team WRT finished the test on top with its #32 Audi. Charles Weerts led the way on Tuesday morning thanks to a 2m17.461s, while Dries Vanthoor posted a 2m17.490s after lunch to keep his squad in control. Ultimately, the former’s time was not beaten across the duration of the test.
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A new team and brand took P1 in Wednesday's morning session – though again it was a Belgian driver who led the way. Two-time race winner Laurens Vanthoor set the benchmark, circulating in 2m17.725s at the wheel of the #47 KCMG Porsche. The marque stayed top on Wednesday afternoon thanks to the Matt Campbell-driven EMA Motorsport entry, which circulated in 2m18.069s
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The full entry list for this year's race was revealed on Tuesday. It features 65 cars – a number only topped once during the past decade – including 23 Pro crews and a record-breaking 18 entrants in the Silver Cup. The Gold Cup (14) Pro-Am (8) Bronze Cup (2) classes will add further interest at this year's race.
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There are 9 brands on the 2022 entry list, matching the number from 2021. Porsche and Mercedes-AMG will each have 13 cars on the grid, while the latter is the only manufacturer represented across all five classes.
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In addition to the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS regulars, the entry list features a plenty of one-off entries. The biggest contingent comes from Porsche, with KCMG, EMA Motorsport, GPX Martini Racing, Toksport WRT, Singha Racing Team TP 12 and EBM Giga Racing all joining for the season's marquee event.
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There is a bolstered entry for Mercedes-AMG, too, with GruppeM Racing set to compete as a factory-backed effort and Kenny Habul's SunEnergy1 crew running in conjunction with SPS automotive performance. Elsewhere the BMW line-up includes one-offs from Walkenhorst Motorsport and Samantha Tan Racing, while Orange1 KPAX Racing will fly the Lamborghini flag and The Heart of Racing with TF Sport will represent Aston Martin.
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There is now just over a week before cars are on-track for the fourth Fanatec Sprint meeting of 2022 at Misano. The Italian circuit will stage its annual event on 1-3 July, with racing on both Saturday and Sunday and a packed support package that includes the Fanatec GT2 European Series and GT4 European Series.
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Once the Italian contest is complete teams will have less than four weeks to prepare for the 2022 TotalEnergies 24 Hours of Spa. The first official session takes place on Tuesday 26 July, culminating in the main event getting underway on Saturday 30 July. This year’s edition will also feature a full programme of off-track entertainment, including fan favourites such as the parade to Spa town centre and the Saturday night music concert.
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