Raffaele Marciello fended off Dries Vanthoor to FIA GT World Cup Qualification Race success, securing BMW front-row lockout for tomorrow’s title-deciding 16-lap FIA GT World Cup dash
Vanthoor briefly took the lead as soon as the race received underway. Aboard his BMW M4 GT3, the Belgian manged to get his nostril forward of the sister machine of polesitter Raffaele Marciello, however didn’t get to benefit from the lead for lengthy, working too deep into the Lisboa nook and permitting the incumbent FIA GT World Cup winner to resettle into the lead.
The youthful of the Vanthoor brothers wasn’t, nevertheless, keen to put his weapons down, demonstrating stellar tempo and being the quickest man on observe within the closing levels of the race. He went on to cut back the hole to the Italian two-time FIA GT World Cup winner from 1.5s at mid-distance to 0.7s on the chequered flag. Marciello’s lead by no means appeared really underneath menace, as he remained in management and went on to take the victory.
The opening tour of the 12-lap warmth was the place the beginning order reshuffled in a number of locations all through the sector. Ranging from fourth on the gird, Ferrari’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Antonio Fuoco managed to interrupt into the highest three on the expense of Mercedes-AMG’s 11-time Macau GP veteran Maro Engel.
Fourth and fifth have been two extra BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Sheldon van der Linde, with the 2 ending the place they began, however with the South African claiming the quickest lap of the race on the ultimate spherical of the 6.12-kilomtere Guia Circuit.
Seventh got here the most effective of the Porsches and the most effective of the gold-ranked drivers Alessio Picariello within the Absolute Racing machine, who managed to get forward of his compatriot team-mate Laurens Vanthoor on the opening lap.
The highest ten was accomplished by Audi’s Christopher Haase and Macau GP specialist Edoardo Mortara, representing Lamborghini for the primary time within the occasion.
The Swiss racer began down in eleventh on the grid, having failed to finish his last-gasp flying lap in Friday’s qualifying that was minimize brief following Luca Engstler’s high-speed accident on the exit of the Mandarin nook.
Mortara managed to enhance his place within the race, getting forward of compatriot Ricardo Feller, who, having began ninth, misplaced two locations on the opening lap.
Within the closing levels of the race, Feller tried to maneuver again into the highest 10, placing immense strain on Mortara, with the 2 working nose-to-tail, however the order finally remained unchanged.
Adderly Fong within the fan-favourite Kuromi-themed Audi crossed the road as the most effective of the silver-ranked drivers in nineteenth place.
The race noticed 22 automobiles taking the beginning following yesterday’s qualifying crash of Engstler’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 that completed the weekend for the younger German who was experiencing the Guia Circuit for the primary time in GT equipment, having beforehand competed right here in a TCR automobile.
Tomorrow’s title-deciding 16-lap FIA GT World Cup might be streamed dwell through the FIA’s official YouTube channel.
