NEWS
SILVER CUP POINTS FINISHES FOR BOTH VSR CARS AT IMOLA
Apr 03, 2022
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PRESS RELEASE: 3rd April 2022
Points finishes for both VSR cars in GT World Challenge debut
Fanatec GT World Challenge Eudurance by AWS - Round 1, Imola
A mega grid of fifty-two cars was welcomed to Imola by packed grandstands for the first time since the pandemic started two years ago. VSR entered two Lamborghini Huracán GT3’s in the Silver Cup. The 163 car was driven by Dörrbecker, Moulin and Paverud and the 563 by Beretta, Hites and Nemoto.
Sunday morning’s qualifying session took place under cloudy skies. The 563 qualified fourth in the Silver Cup and was the second highest ranked Lamborghini and the 163 car qualified eighteenth in class. At the start Hites lost a class position to Valente’s Audi but Moulin gained two spots. A three lap Safety Car period to recover the Iron Dames Ferrari froze the standings on lap two and shortly after the restart Hites was pushed off track by car 66 and dropped down to seventh in class. During his stint Moulin picked up several more places to haul his Lamborghini up to thirteenth in class. After another Safety Car period the first cycle of pit stops started on lap thirty-one as the end of the first hour approached. Hites stopped for Beretta and one lap later Moulin pitted for Dörrbecker. As the race headed into the second hour Beretta was running in sixth and Dörrbecker ninth. Beretta made short work of passing Al Zubair to take fifth in class and close up on Tereschenko’s Mercedes as a trio of Audi’s dominated the class up front.
A lengthy Full Course Yellow just after the halfway point was extended by a big crash in the Safety Car train just before racing resumed. With the track covered in debris the Safety Car stayed out and teams began making their second stops. Hampered by their Balance of Performance the Lamborghinis were forced to stop late and lost track position. Paverud took over from Dörrbecker and Beretta pitted for Nemoto but they slipped down to tenth and eleventh in class. A super restart from Paverud saw him jump up to eighth before overtaking Blom’s Audi for seventh. A lap later and Nemoto had caught up to him and was running in eighth. With under half an hour left the two VSR cars swapped places giving Nemoto the chance to attack the Audi’s ahead of them. On lap eighty-six Nemoto pulled alongside Hutchison but the Audi driver pushed him wide and on to the grass. The move eventually earned him a post-race penalty leaving the VSR cars sixth and seventh in the Silver Cup class.
