A tense final round of the first season of the Blancpain GT World Challenge awaits drivers at the Hungaroring circuit next weekend.
Rinaldi Racing on the attack. The German team’s hopes rest with David Perel and Rinat Salikhov, who lag 8.5 points behind Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Phil Keen of Orange 1 FFF Racing. Victory in Race-1 at the Nürburgring round just seven days ago gave the 488 GT3 crew the chance to overtake their direct rivals, but an unfortunate start in Race-2 transformed the picture for the Rinaldi Racing men. However, the pair’s competitiveness at the wheel of the Ferrari no. 333 and the points still up for grabs means they can still hope to take the title.
AF Corse pursuit. The same holds for Andrea Bertolini and Louis Machiels, comfortable winners in Race-2 in Germany. AF Corse’s Italo-Belgian crew needs to bridge the 25.5-point chasm separating them from the championship leaders. However, the experience and speed they have demonstrated with their two victories so far in 2019, means they are still in with a chance.
HB Racing untouchable. In the Am class, Wolfgang Triller and Florian Scholze will complete a season at the wheel of the 488 GT3 of HB Racing with no real rivals.
Programme. The track activities on the winding but technical Hungarian circuit start on Friday with the first free practice. On Saturday, as usual, qualifying begins at 10:30 am local time, while in the afternoon Race-1 sets off at 3:10 pm, ending an hour later. The season’s final outing gets going at 1:45 pm on Sunday and will decide the winners of the series.