The Italian is back at the wheel of the Wrt team’s Audi R8 Lms for the second round of the season reserved for GT3-class super sports cars. 26 cars have entered, including five between Ferrari and Lamborghini. The schedules of the direct
Giulio Masperi
– milano
After the first act of the season with the 3 Hours of Imola valid for the Endurance Cup, the GT World Challenge Europe championship returns to the spotlight on Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May 2022 at Brands Hatch, England. A second round – of the ten scheduled – which includes two sprint races, each lasting one hour, with mandatory driver change. Valentino Rossi, after the 17th place obtained on the track named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari, returns to the wheel of the GT3 class Audi R8 Lms Evo II (Wrt Team) that he shares with the Belgian Frédéric Vervisch. Overall, 26 cars have entered the second round of the series, promoted by Sro: Ferrari and Lamborghini stand out among the Italian brands.
GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE: BRANDS HATCH
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The Brands Hatch circuit, south-east London, England, hosts the Sprint Cup of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe championship for the eighth time. 3.916 kilometers long, with nine curves, to be covered in a clockwise direction, the track is known both for car racing (between 1964 and 1986 it hosted 12 editions of the Formula 1 GP), and for motorcycle racing, in particular in the context of the Superbike World Championship, which stopped there until 2008. The lap record recorded in the GT series was signed by Mirko Bortolotti, on Lamborghini (Grasser), in 2017, in 1 minute 22 seconds and 891 thousandths. As anticipated, after Imola, the first round of the year and the first round of the Endurance Cup (five of the ten scheduled races), Brands Hatch hosts two heats that make up the first round of the Sprint Cup. Valentino Rossi will participate in all the tests of the season at steering wheel of the Audi number 46.
GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE: CARS, DRIVERS, CLASSES
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At Brands Hatch the 26 cars entered – representing six brands – are divided between the Pro classes (including Valentino’s Audi R8 Lms), Silver Cup, Pro-Am, the latter reserved for crews that also include gentlemen drivers. Among the favorites are Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor in the Audi R8 number 32 (Wrt), winner at Imola, among the candidates for a leading role in the Sprint Cup 2022. For Valentino Rossi this is the first race on the British track in the Kent, where the “Doctor” of Tavullia has never competed before; for team-mate Vervisch, on the other hand, it is a return after the experience (with victory) of 2018. In the list of potential favorites also Jules Gounon and Jim Pla in the Mercedes-Amg GT number 88 (Akkodis Asp) and the crew on the “twin” car with Raffaele Marciello and Timur Boguslavskiy. Also in the Pro class are Mattia Drudi and Luca Ghiotto in the Audi R8 number 12 (Tresor), Giorgio Roda and Klaus Bachler in the Porsche 911 GT3-R number 56 (Dynamic).
FERRARI E LAMBORGHINI A BRANDS HATCH
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Among the cars of Italian brands, Ferrari is at the start with three 488 GT3 Evo (AF Corse), two in the Pro-Am class: these are the cars of Maranello number 52, entrusted to Andrea Bertolini Louis Machiels, and the number 21 with Hugo Delacour and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. With the colors of Sant’Aganta Bolognese Lamborghini is represented by two Huracáns, one of which in Pro-Am, number 78 (Barwell) with drivers Alex Malykhin and Ben Barker, who will also participate in the Valencia Sprint test.
GT WCE: CALENDAR AND RANKINGS
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After the first round in Imola, the Wrt team (Audi, 28 points) leads the team classification, followed by Akkodis Asp (Mercedes-Amg, 18) and GetSpeed (Mercedes-Amg, 15). As for the drivers’ classification, the ranking sees, in the order with the above cars: first Kelvin van der Linde-Charles Weerts-Dries Vanthoor (26 points), second Raffaele Marciello-Jules Gounon-Daniel Juncadella (18), third Maro Engel -Luke Stolz-Steijn Schothorst (15). The calendar of the GT World Challenge Europe 2022 championship includes ten events, equally divided between the Endurance Cup (taken by Imola) and the Sprint Cup. Here are the details of the rounds that will follow that of Brands Hatch.
- Magny-Cours (Fra), Sprint Cup, 13-15 maggio
- Paul Ricard (Fra), 1000 Kilometers, Endurance Cup, June 3-5
- Zandvoort (Ola), Sprint Cup, June 17-19
- Misano Adriatico, Sprint Cup, 1-3 July
- Spa-Francorchamps, 24 Hours, Endurance Cup, July 28-31
- Hockenheim (Ger), Endurance Cup, 2-4 September
- Valencia (Spa), Sprint Cup, 16-18 September
- Barcelona (Spa), Endurance Cup, 30 September-2 October
BRANDS HATCH: PROGRAM AND DIRECT
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Here is the program of the two days in England, the second seasonal act of the GT World Challenge Europe, and the first of the Sprint Cup. Qualifying and races live on the GT World YouTube channel (also with commentary in Italian), on Sky Sport and in streaming on Now. Italian time: Saturday 30th April: free practice (from 10), pre-qualifying (from 13.25), qualifying (from 16.50; 50 minutes). Sunday 1st May: race-1 (from 12.25; 60 minutes), race-2 (from 17.45, same).
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