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Frijns and Leonard snatch surprise Blancpain GT Sprint title

WRT Audi's Robin Frijns and Stuart Leonard took a surprising Blancpain GT Sprint Cup title after championship favourites Maximilian Buhk/Franck Perera and Dries Vanthoor/Marcel Fassler's Nurburgring races imploded dramatically.

Fellow Audi pair Fassler and Vanthoor looked likely to sneak the title late on, having overcome polesitters and pre-race championship leaders Buhk and Perera in the pit window.

Starting driver Fassler had dived into the pits from second, behind Perera, the moment the window opened to hand over to Vanthoor.

Perera meanwhile ran his Mercedes for a further two laps, and a slightly pedestrian stop meant Buhk returned to the track directly behind Vanthoor.

Once the order had shaken out it was the Audi leading the Mercedes, which potentially created a championship tiebreak with Fassler and Vanthoor ahead on race wins.

But any chance of the HTP Mercedes pairing overcoming the WRT duo for the title fell away after Buhk ran wide on the final corner and into the gravel late on, picking up a puncture and retiring.

It looked as though Vanthoor would only need to cruise to the win, but he was hit with a drivethrough penalty because the airline hose had pulled a mechanic to the floor as the Audi accelerated away at its pitstop.

That meant the race leader dropped down to 10th, allowing Frijns to take over at the head of the field and go to the forefront of the championship.

Two earlier overtakes by Frijns, on the Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli and the fellow Audi of Markus Winkelhock, had proved crucial in his title pursuit.

Frijns then cruised to the flag for his second victory of the season and the Sprint title with Leonard.

Winkelhock and Will Stevens again put in an impressive stint each, moving from fifth to second to complete an Audi one-two.

Caldarelli steered the Grasser Lamborghini to the final podium place.

Fourth fell to the #98 Rowe BMW M6, with Markus Paltalla working his way up the order before handing over to team-mate Jesse Krohn.

Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart recovered from a disastrous qualifying race result of 19th to finish fifth and keep their overall Blancpain title hopes alive.

Maxime Soulet's strong drive to second at the start went to waste with a drivethrough penalty, harshly given for supposedly running the Lamborghini of Ezequiel Perez Companc wide and off-track at the final corner. Soulet and team-mate Andy Soucek finished 15th.

The Lexus RC F finished its maiden Blancpain weekend down in 21st place.

Zdroj: autosport.com