Dijon delivers four different race winners for round three in France

The Fanatec GT2 European Series’ first visit to the historic Circuit Dijon-Prenois served up two thrilling feature races for round three in France, which produced four different class winners and victory for three of the five world-class brands competing this weekend.

The first 50-minute encounter of the weekend resulted in two new class winners. Reinhard Kofler and stand-in teammate Martin Koch claimed the first outright and Pro-Am victory for the #17 Team True Racing KTM X-BOW, while Leonardo Gorini secured his maiden Am class win for Ebimotors.

After a forced retirement in race one, Peter Guelinckx and Stienes Longin bounced back to take their second Pro-Am win of the season in race two aboard the PK Carsports Audi. Jan Krabec also returned to the top of the podium to earn a fourth Am win for RTR Projects. 

Race 1

It was an action-packed encounter from the start of the first 50-minute race of the weekend, with Christoph Breuer managing to out-drag Henry Hassid for the lead heading into turn one. Koch, who sits in for Hubert Trunkenpolz this weekend, was eager to follow suit but instead took a spin halfway round the opening lap.

There was drama early on for PK Carsport too, as the left rear wheel parted company with the car, which in turn required a short safety car period to recover the Audi.

Soon back to green-flag racing, Breuer kept his Manthey Racing Porsche out in front at the restart, but behind him the pressure was building from both Hassid and a hard-charging Gorini. The trio would run line astern heading up to the pit stop window.

While the #15 and #89 KTMs were keeping clear of trouble in fourth and fifth, the battle for sixth ignited with a recovering Koch managing to take Benjamin Ricci’s Mercedes before the compulsory pitstops.

With those complete, it was the Ebimotors Porsche that emerged leading the Manthey Racing machine, but Gorini was soon handed a 13-second penalty for a short pitstop. But with that penalty to be applied post-race, Gorini stayed out front while the pack closed in behind him, producing a thrilling final 10-minutes.

Second-placed Breuer found his Porsche under immense pressure from Kofler, who in turn had the Akkodis ASP Mercedes glued to his KTM’s rear bumper. Kofler managed to get the jump on the Manthey Racing machine, then the smallest of mistakes from Gorini was all the invitation Kofler needed to take the lead approaching the final five minutes.

The #61 Mercedes-AMG GT2 followed suit shortly after. Gorini then got overhaled by the #15 True Racing KTM, #18 LP Racing Audi and Breuer in the final laps. Despite that and the post-race penalty, the Swiss driver still held on to the Am lead

Current Am leader, Jan Krabec followed Gorini home to the flag for second in class aboard the RTR Projects KTM, ahead of Aurelijus Rusteika in the sister Ebimotors entry.

Race 2

The second 50-minute race late on Saturday afternoon was just as thrilling. 

The moments the lights turned green, it was a side-by-side battle between the #18 pole-winning LP Racing Audi and the #17 True Racing KTM, the latter gaining the advantage into turn one as the field shuffled into order behind. 

Stefan Rosina initially followed the sister car through to third until Longin and Breuer managed to sneak past the KTM a few two corners later. Rosina bided his time and come lap three had managed to retake fourth place and give chase to the leaders.

At the front, Pierre Kaffer was leaving Kofler with little breathing space and then piled on the pressure heading towards the pitstop window, eventually making a move stick with 32 minutes remaining.

With the Pro drivers pitting to handing over to their Am teammates, the order reshuffled and, with no additional success seconds to serve, it was the #1 Audi that emerged with a clear lead that would earn Peter Guelinckx and the PK Carsport crew its second win of the season.

Koch took up the mantle for the #17 KTM and also held second until the flag, but the race for third was a different story – Benjamin Ricci doing a stellar job of keeping Breuer and Saelens, now in the #15 KTM, at bay. But things got a bit too close for comfort and contact consequently tipped the Akkodis ASP Mercedes into a spin and down the order in the final 10 minutes.

Breuer held on for third, while a strong comeback drive after race one retirement netted fourth for Hassid and Anthony Beltoise.

Jan Krabec finished an impressive fifth overall, taking his fourth Am-class win in the process after a brilliant battle with race one winner Gorini. Klaus Angerhofer and Sehdi Sarmini rounded out the race two Am podium.

The Fanatec GT2 European Series field now takes a month-long break before resuming battle in round four at Portimao, Portugal, 22-23 July.