The Mamba triumphs at Hockenheim!
Second win of the season for WINWARD Racing Team MANN-FILTER in the first race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Hockenheim.
WINWARD Racing Team MANN-FILTER has continued its winning run in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup powered by AWS. In the Saturday race of the third of five Sprint Cup meetings at Hockenheim, Maro Engel (38, Monaco) and Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) celebrated their second win of the season in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the striking yellow and green of MANN-FILTER. The German-Austrian duo also took the lead of the Sprint Cup, which together with the five Endurance races makes up the overall standings of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. Their team-mates Magnus Gustavsen (23, Norway) and Reece Barr (23, Ireland) finished 22nd overall in the field of 32 GT3 cars from eight different brands, and 6th in the Silver Cup, which is reserved for drivers with the FIA Silver rating.
The race on the 4.5-kilometre Grand Prix circuit near Heidelberg turned into a real battle against the heat, with 31 degrees air and 55 degrees track temperature. From third on the grid, Luggi Auer put pressure on the two leading Ferraris from the start and moved into second place on lap 14 with a superb move in front of the East Grandstand. The key moment came during the mandatory pit stops between the 25th and 35th minute. Thanks to a perfectly timed and executed tyre change, the team pulled off the undercut on the leading Ferrari, and Maro Engel took the lead once the pit window had closed.
After that the veteran held off strong pressure from the second-placed BMW in impressive style. On lap 28 the WINWARD driver briefly lost the lead under braking for the hairpin, but took it back two corners later with a brilliant counter-attack in front of the East Grandstand. In the final laps the Munich-born driver left nothing to chance, even if it got tight once more on the penultimate lap, which the commentators, including former Formula 1 driver John Watson, put down to a technical problem with the Mercedes-AMG GT3. Fortunately, that was not the case.
“The car ahead of me had spread dirt on the track in the final corner. I weaved to get it off my tyres and have maximum grip for the next corner, so the BMW couldn’t use its top-speed advantage. That’s why it got a bit close again, but in the end everything was under control,” Engel explained after his eighth Sprint Cup race win. Auer praised not only his team-mate but also the WINWARD crew: “They gave us a perfect car from the first practice session. Some of the battles on track were pretty heated, but over the distance we were very strong today. It was a good day for us.”
WWR team principal Christian Hohenadel highlighted the performance of his pit crew in particular: “With their super-fast tyre change the guys made the undercut on the Ferrari possible for the Mamba. And because the set-up was good too, we could make use of the Mercedes-AMG GT3’s low tyre wear in the second half of each stint. Luggi and Maro’s performance needs just one word: perfect! I’m also happy with our Silver Cup car. After a difficult qualifying, Magnus and Reece drove a good race and gained nine positions, helped again by a very good pit stop. We’re looking forward to tomorrow and hope our second home race here at Hockenheim goes just as well.”
The Sunday race of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup powered by AWS at Hockenheim starts at 2 pm. The GT3 spectacle is streamed live at www.gt-world-challenge-europe.com/watch-live