After the win in Race 1, Andrea Bertolini and Louis Machiels completed the second Sprint Cup race at Magny-Cours in third place, bringing to a close the second round of the season in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. Elsewhere, it was a tough test for the two 488 GT3 Evo 2020s involved in the Silver Cup.
Pro-Am. Starting from 21st position, Bertolini's Ferrari managed to climb the order as far as third ahead of the pit-stop with some 26 minutes still on the clock. Sixty seconds later, a Full Course Yellow was prompted when an Audi went off-track, followed by a Safety Car entrance which would re-bunch the group. Machiels resumed racing from fourth place and had made it back into a podium position before another Full Course Yellow was triggered and a Safety Car call-out, which withdrew with three minutes left to race. Third place, by that point, was firmly in the grip of the Belgian expert who, together with Bertolini, have got the Sprint Cup season off to the best possible start.
Silver. In a race hindered by a start from the rear of the field, the two 488 GT3 Evo 2020s, belonging to Sky Tempesta Racing and Rinaldi Racing, completed the scheduled hour of racing in sixth and seventh class positions. With Benjamin Hites starting from 26th position and Giorgio Roda from 27th, the two Ferraris struggled to pull back positions in the opening stages of the race, instead managing to climb the order in the latter part, in spite of the phases of Full Course Yellow. Taking advantage of various collisions, but thanks also to some deft driving skills, Chris Froggatt managed to claw his way back to 14th overall, sixth in the class. It was a bitter end, on the other hand, for Patrick Kujala who, after being able to pull back as far as fifteenth place overall, passed the chequered flag in twenty-second, seventh best among the Silver cars.
Schedule. The GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS will remain on French soil where, from May 28-30, the Paul Ricard 1000 Km is set to take place - part of the Endurance Cup.