Maro Engel has taken his second profession FIA GT World Cup victory after an ultra-close battle between the main group on traitorously moist Guia Circuit, with the Mercedes-AMG ace capitalising on errors from Antonio Fuoco and Raffaele Marciello within the closing phases of the race
9 years after his victory within the inaugural working of the FIA GT World Cup, the German secured his second triumph in what was additionally third straight victory for Mercedes-AMG on the planet’s most prestigious dash race for GT3 equipment, following the producer’s successes within the earlier two version with present BMW man Raffaele Marciello.
The race received underway with the security automobile main the pack for the primary 4 laps, leaving the 22 runners with 12 excursions of racing motion to determine the 2024 FIA GT World Cup.
As soon as the racing commenced, polesitter Marciello initially settled into the lead in his BMW M4 GT3 from fellow front-row starter Dries Vanthoor, Ferrari’s Fuoco and Engel, who was attempting to go across the outdoors of the Italian as they had been negotiating the Lisboa nook.
From that second on, the highest 5, accomplished by one other BMW of Augusto Farfus, had been working just about nostril to tail.
Vanthoor initially managed to remain inside 0.5s of the race chief, however his consideration shortly needed to shift from attacking to defending, with third-place man Fuoco wanting very speedy.
With 9 laps to go, the 296 GT3 with the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner behind the wheel launched a profitable assault on the M4 GT3 of the Belgian going into R Bend, the ultimate nook of the circuit.
From that second on it went from unhealthy to worse for Vanthoor who was instantly beneath stress from Engel. The 2 got here collectively within the mountain part of the circuit, with the Staff WRT BMW driver brushing the wall at Flip 12, after a nudge from Engel, which finally led to him retiring the automobile.
Fuoco within the meantime went on to pursue Marciello and inside one lap decreased the hole to his main compatriot from 1.5s to 0.4s. Three laps from the checkered flag, Fuoco managed to repeat his R Bend transfer, now on the expense of the race chief.
The race was nonetheless removed from over and the 2 continued their battle for the coveted FIA GT World Cup. Ultimately, the victory was not meant for any of them, as each outbraked themselves on the penultimate lap going into the Lisboa nook with the 2 automobiles making contact however neither making the nook.
This led to Engel inheriting the lead and happening to win his second FIA GT World Cup, crossing the road over 11s clear off his nearest rival. The German obtained a 5s penalty for his coming along with Vanthoor however this didn’t alter the ending order.
2018 FIA GT World Cup winner Farfus went on to complete second, delivering success for Macau-based Staff KRC which operated his M4 GT3 this weekend, with Sheldon van der Linde rounding out the highest three in one other BMW.
