Success for Comtoyou Racing and their silver crew within a delayed GT World Challenge Europe Sprint affair

Race one on Saturday would be an into the night affair for the three Aston Martins amongst the forty-four strong, multi-classed entry where the #21 crew had secured a P2 in class start as the lead Aston with Day taking the start.

A tight circuit and many well determined drivers lead to the inevitable contact on the opening lap that saw for an early Safety Car period at the end of the opening lap as several cars (and their parts) were left scattered about the circuit. That kind of lowered emotions within the cockpits once the race got going again as Day battled for the class lead only to lose it again a few corners later.

Villagomez was also enjoying a great start having moved up from P27 at the start to P19 at the end of a quick-fire Full Course Yellow for a stranded car just after the Safety Car restart whilst Camara was up to P28 overall from his earlier P42 qualifying position.

Whilst both the #35 and #270 cars stayed out late within the pit window, Day pitted early to hand his #21 car over to Pauwels from second in class as the race finally went into full darkness but at least the circuit was illuminated to some degree.

As the laps continued at a frenetic pace, both the #35 and #270 cars were holding P10 within their respective classes whilst the #21 car was looking comfortable in second in class but still eager to look for a way passed into the lead. Despite a late FCY towards the end of the night, the #21 car would take the chequered flag second in class, but a later post-race five second time penalty would drop them down to third in class after the event – still a great results for all.

Race two on Sunday should have been another fast and furious affair but for the consequences of a scary looking incident between a Lamborghini and a BMW within the opening ten minutes of the race. 

Despite starting on class pole position, the #21 car of Pauwels was quickly pushed out wide on the opening lap to quickly drop down the order from his starting position of P8 to P17 whilst the #35 car of Chaves quickly improved his own position as a consequence up until the red flag.

The debris field and barrier damage was extensive and took track officials over two hours to repair/replace before the race could even have a chance of getting back on track but more importantly from all of that, all the drivers involved were reported as being OK for their troubles despite the fireball incident and secondary contact.

Getting back to green, it would only by a two/three dash affair to the opening of the pit stop window as Villagomez continued to lead the way in P12 overall with the #21 car three places behind them (and third in class) whilst Sette Camara looked to improve from their P9 bronze cup placement.

Soon Day was back behind the #10 Mercedes and pushing for the lead in class as his chance finally came his way thanks to the #35 Walkenhorst AMR being slow out of one corner that allowed the #21 to overlap and pass the #10 car around the outside of turn 15. Job done – or so it seemed until Race Control confirmed that that manoeuvre would be investigated for gaining an advantage off track!!

With just minutes of the race remaining, it was confirmed that the #21 car would suffer no further action for that earlier overtake of the #10 car to claim their first, class win of the season with the #35 coming home P9 in Pro and the #270 rounding off a good weekend for the Comtoyou Racing team P5 in Bronze.

The next round of the Sprint Cup will be from Magny-Cours, France in two weeks’ time.

Photo credits – Team / Series / social media