NEWS
POINTS FINISHES FOR VSR AT HOCKENHEIM
Sep 03, 2023
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PRESS RELEASE: 3rd September 2023
Points finishes for the VSR cars at Hockenheim
Fanatec GT World Challenge by AWS, Sprint Cup – Hockenheim
The Fanatec GT World Challenge by AWS Sprint Cup reached the midway point this weekend with a double header at Hockenheim. Forty-one cars entered the event and VSR fielded three Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo 2 cars. The number 60 Pro car was driven by Jordan Pepper and Franck Perera. Baptiste Moulin and Marcus Paverud shared the 119 Silver Cup car and Yuki Nemoto was once more paired with Rolf Ineichen in the 163 Silver Cup car.
After testing on Thursday mixed weather affected Friday’s practice sessions. It was dry for qualifying on Saturday morning and setting the times for the race one grid were Pepper, Moulin and Ineichen. Pepper was on fire, taking VSR’s first pole position in the Fanatec GT World Challenge. Ineichen qualified second in the Silver Cup and Moulin fifth.
An additional 10kg BoP weight were added to the Lambos after Pepper’s pole but the South African held the lead at the start, fending off Feller’s Audi as the field rounded the first corner. Further back Ineichen was turned around at turn six and fell back to ninth in class whilst an attacking start from Moulin saw him up to third in the Silver Cup. A three lap Safety Car period for a multi-car incident at the hairpin was followed by four green laps before a FCY paused racing once again. This time Moulin was amongst the victims and the 119 was retired with suspension damage. The track went green again just minutes before the pit window opened and on lap thirteen Pepper lost the lead to Feller who passed the VSR Lamborghini whilst off-track. On the same lap Ineichen, who had clawed his way back up to fifth in class, pitted for Nemoto. Two laps later Perera took over the 60 car and when the pit window closed was running in fourth place just half a second behind Vanthoor and with Vermulen closing in. A hit up the back from Vermulen lost Perera valuable seconds before a left rear puncture forced him to pit and eventually retire the number 60 Lambo. In the closing stages of the race Nemoto closed in on the battle for the Silver Cup podium and when the chequered flag fell he was just 0.15 seconds behind the third place finisher.
Qualifying for race 2 saw Perera take a place on the fifth row with Nemoto and Paverud fourth and ninth quickest in Silver Cup. A two car crash on the opening lap bought the Safety Car out for ten minutes and shortly after racing resumed Perera was hit by Williams and dropped two places. The pit window opened on lap fourteen and Perera was the first to stop, handing over the 60 car to Pepper. In quick succession Nemoto and Paverud followed him in and when the pit window closed ten minutes later Pepper was back in the points in tenth and running just behind Panis. Ineichen was third in Silver Cup with Salmenautio just behind him and Moulin was ninth in class and catching the two Hondas ahead of him. On lap twenty five Pepper passed Panis but would get no higher than ninth before the flag fell, taking the chequered just behind De Leemer and Rossi. Ineichen held off Salmenautio until the very last lap when the Madpanda driver used a track limits infringement to get an advantage and passed the VSR Lambo demoting it to fourth in class. Moulin finished in ninth collecting another points finish.
The Fanatec GT World Challenge by AWS Sprint Cup will be back in a fortnight with a double header round at Valencia.
ENDS
