By Tarek Ramchani
The Belgian Audi Club WRT had the perfect start to its 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship campaign. A great 1-2 victory in the Qualifying Race at Nogaro.
The two Belgian run privateer Audi R8 LMS ultra cars started from positions two and three, after a strong qualifying session yesterday. A rainy race and right from the start the two Audi cars battled with the pole sitting Ferrari 458 GT3. The #32 car with Laurens Vanthoor faced strong attacks from the chasing cars but he resisted well, being either in second or third during his stint. Right behind Vanthoor the sister #33 R8 suffered a little bit in hands of Oliver Jarvis, but was always in the lead pack. Later a real threat appeared in the form of the Reiter Engineering run Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 with GT ace Tomas Enge driving. The Czech was able to pass the entire leading pack and pull away far ahead. The Audi cars were in second and fourth before the mandatory pit stops. The pit window opened and the seventeen cars jumped in for drivers and tire changes. The WRT crew did an amazing job with very fast pit stops which was enough so send both cars to third and fourth. Shortly after the pit stops the two cars overtook the Hexis McLaren and started chasing the leading Lamborghini. Ortelli was able to put in very fast lap times to pass the Reiter car, and quickly afterward Frank Stippler passed as well. The two Audis held their position of 1 and 2 until the end of the race. A perfect debut for the Belgian team in world class GT racing.
The Qualifying Race is setting the starting grid from tomorrow's main Championship Race. Audi has locked out the front row of the grid and with the very fast pace in both the qualifying sessions and qualifying race, Team WRT and their Audi R8 LMS ultra will be the big favorites for race victory tomorrow.
1 - #32 Belgian Audi Club WRT - Audi R8 LMS ultra
2 - #33 Belgian Audi Club WRT - Audi R8 LMS ultra
3 - #24 Reiter Engineering - Lamborghini Gallardo LP600
4 - #2 Hexis Racing - McLaren MP4-12C GT3
5 - #3 AF Corse - Ferrari 458 GT3
Watch the full qualifying race here:
Watch the full qualifying race here:
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