Marciello retains Vanthoor at bay to FIA GT World Cup Qualification Race success, secures pole for Sunday’s title-decider
Raffaele Marciello fended off Dries Vanthoor to FIA GT World Cup Qualification Race success, securing BMW front-row lockout for tomorrow’s title-deciding 16-lap FIA GT World Cup dash
Vanthoor briefly took the lead as soon as the race went underway. The Belgian aboard his BMW M4 GT3 manged to will get his nostril forward of the sister machine of polesitter Raffaele Marciello, however didn’t get to get pleasure from his lead for too lengthy, having gone too deep into the Lisboa nook, thus permitting the reigning FIA GT World Cup winner to resettle into the lead.
The youthful of the Vanthoor brothers wasn’t, nevertheless, prepared to put his weapons down, demonstrating stellar tempo and being the quickest man on monitor within the closing phases of the race. He went on to cut back his hole to the Italian two-time FIA GT World Cup winner from 1.5s mid-race to 0.7s on the checkered flag. Marciello’s lead by no means appeared below risk as he remained in management and went on to take the victory, having additionally claimed the quickest lap of the race on the ultimate tour of the 6.12-kilomtere Guia Circuit.
The opening lap of the 12-lap warmth was the place there the beginning order bought reshuffled in a number of locations all through the sphere. Ranging from fourth on the gird, Ferrari’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco managed to interrupt into the highest three on the expense of Mercedes-AMG’s 11-time Macau GP veteran Maro Engel.
Fourth and fifth have been additional two BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Sheldon van der Line, with the 2 ending the place they began.
Seventh got here the very best of the Porsches and the very best of the gold-ranked drivers Alessio Picariello, within the Absolute Racing machine, who managed to get forward of his compatriot team-mate Laurens Vanthoor on the opening lap.
The highest ten was accomplished by Audi’s Christopher Haase and Macau GP specialist Edoardo Mortara, this time representing Lamborghini for the primary time within the occasion.
The Swiss racer began down in eleventh on the grid, having failed to finish his final gasp flying lap in Friday’s qualifying that was minimize quick following Luca Engstler’s high-speed accident on the exit of the Mandarin nook.
Mortara managed to enhance his place within the race, getting forward of his compatriot Ricardo Feller, who, having began ninth, misplaced two locations on the opening lap.
Within the closing phases of the race Feller tried to maneuver again into the highest 10, placing immense stress on Mortara, with the 2 working nose-to-tail, however the order ultimately remained unchanged.
The race noticed 22 automobiles taking the beginning following yesterday’s qualifying crash of Engstler’ Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 that completed the weekend for the younger German who was experiencing the Guia Circuit for the primary time in GT equipment, having beforehand competed right here in a TCR automotive.
Tomorrow’s title-deciding 16-lap FIA GT World Cup might be streamed reside through the FIA’s official YouTube channel.
