PK Carsport and RTR Projects bounce back with race two wins in Portimão

Peter Guelinckx and Stienes Longin seized their third Fanatec GT2 European Series win of the season in the second race of the weekend at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.

The PK Carsport duo cast yesterday’s misfortune aside to take a comfortable victory and much-needed championship points in the Pro-Am title fight, after a puncture and an electrical issue ruined their race one chances.

Am class leader heading into the fourth round of the series at Portimão, Jan Krabec also bounced back from race one retirement, which had dropped him to second in the standings, to return to the top of the podium and category standings.

Audi v Audi in second Algarve encounter

Another strong qualifying performance from Pierre Kaffer on Sunday morning put the LP Racing Audi on pole for the second ever Fanatec GT2 European Series race in the Algarve, but when the field roared away for race two the #18 car clipped the kerb heading into turn one. 

That allowed Longin to sweep into the lead, while Kaffer and Reinhard Kofler went door-to-door through turns two and three. With Kofler snatching second, Kaffer had to work hard to take the KTM before slashing the 1.7s advantage Longin had already built up. 

Kaffer proceeded to post a series of flying laps, earning him the fastest lap of the race in the process, in order to bring the Audis back on equal terms before the LP Racing charge managed to slip up the inside of turn five.

With Longin safe in second, Kofler came under pressure from yesterday’s race-winning LP Racing Audi and Anthony Beltoise moved up to third on lap five. Meanwhile, the battle for fifth was an action replay of Saturday’s epic tussle between the #61 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG and the #88 Audi, Mattia di Giusto completing his pass before the halfway mark. 

Although able to extend a comfortable margin ahead of the compulsory pitstops, the #18 Audi had an extra five seconds to serve by dint of Kaffer and Michael Doppelmayr’s third place success in race one yesterday. A valiant effort from the LP Racing crew helped Doppelmayr to briefly retain the lead until Peter Guelinckx, now in the #1 car, found a way through with 15 minutes to go and stormed clear to the chequered flag. A severe right-front tyre vibration would sadly put pay to Doppelmayr's chances.

Henry Hassid picked up where Beltoise left off to bring the #67 car home in second, while Nicolas Saelens and Stefan Rosina broke their recent string of misfortune to finish third and make a welcome return to the podium.

All the while, the Am class battle was in full flow, Sehdi Sarmini heading that fight until the #16 took a spin at turn eight around the 30-minute mark. That released Krabec to climb the field up to an impressive fourth overall, on the way to his fifth win of the season and reclaiming the class lead he lost to Klaus Angerhofer on Saturday.

Hubert Trunkenpolz brought the #17 True Racing KTM home in fifth place, ahead of the #88 Audi of Stéphane Ratel and Mattia di Giusto. 

Leonardo Gorini and Jean Luc Beaubelique fought hammer and tong for second in the Am class throughout the final 20 minutes. Despite the #911 Porsche being handed a post-race penalty for track limits, Gorini held on to the position while the #67 Akkodis ASP car celebrated its series debut with a brace of third places. 

The Fanatec GT2 European Series field now heads into its summer break before resuming with the fifth-round championship battles in Valencia, Spain, 15-17 September.

The result is HERE