Mamba tamers show great fighting spirit
Another podium for WINWARD Racing Team MANN-FILTER at the second event of the 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup powered by AWS at Misano.
WINWARD Racing Team MANN-FILTER has continued its strong form in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. After a fifth and a second place at Misano in Italy, Maro Engel (38, Monaco) and Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) are second in both the Sprint Cup and the overall standings, which are made up of five Sprint Cup and five Endurance Cup events, in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the striking yellow and green of MANN-FILTER. Their team-mates Reece Barr (24, Ireland) and Magnus Gustavsen (23, Norway) finished third and fifth in the two races in the Silver Cup, which is reserved for drivers with the FIA Silver rating.
The race day on the 4.2-kilometre Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli had not started very promisingly for the German-Texan team. In the heavy evening traffic of the first qualifying session, Maro Engel could not put together an ideal lap on the twisty track near the Adriatic resort of Rimini, so the “MANN-FILTER Mamba” started the first one-hour race on Saturday afternoon only from 21st on the grid – as the second-best Mercedes-AMG GT3, right behind fellow brand driver Jules Gounon.
But attack was exactly the motto the Mamba duo followed in the hour that followed. Right after the start, Engel unleashed a thrilling charge and fought his way up seven places by the driver change around half-distance. After a pit stop with driver and tyre change perfectly executed by the WINWARD crew, Auer rejoined in ninth. With spectacular overtaking moves the Tyrolean gained four more positions and finally brought his roughly 550 hp race car home in fifth.
The starting position for the second race six hours later looked much more promising. In the second qualifying session Lucas Auer was just 28 thousandths of a second away from repeating his pole position from the opening weekend at Brands Hatch two weeks earlier. The second place that Auer and Engel held until the finish at 10 pm was extremely hard-earned. Engel in particular was under massive pressure from his pursuers throughout his stint, but brilliantly fended off every attack and brought home the third podium in the fourth Sprint Cup race of the year.
In the overall standings of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and in the Sprint Cup, Auer and Engel are in a promising position just four points behind the two leaders.
The sister car of Barr and Gustavsen, who only contest the Sprint Cup, also did very well on the Italian visit. Starting only from 32nd after a poor first qualifying, the Norwegian-Irish duo worked their way up to 24th overall in the first race and took their first Silver Cup podium of the season with third. In the night race that followed, things went even better at first. During the action-packed hour, Barr and Gustavsen gained four positions and crossed the line 17th overall, which would have meant a second Silver Cup podium. But a time penalty imposed afterwards for exceeding track limits dropped the number 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 back five places.
WINWARD Racing team principal Christian Hohenadel was happy with the weekend: “We certainly didn’t have the strongest package here, but we got the maximum out of it. The performance of the whole team thrilled me. Gaining 16 positions in the first race in such a strong field was only possible because not only Maro and Luggi but also the pit crew did an outstanding job. And the way the two brought second place home under the greatest pressure in the evening was no less impressive. Our Silver Cup duo also put in a great performance and fully deserved their first podium of the season. We are fighting for the title in all classifications, and that makes me very satisfied.”
The team from Altendiez carries on without a break. From Misano the WWR squad moves straight on to Spa-Francorchamps, where the official pre-test for the legendary 24-hour race on the last weekend of June takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday. And next weekend Maro Engel and Lucas Auer already face the second DTM weekend of the season at the Lausitzring.