LP Racing’s Hassid & Beltoise clinch Pro-Am crown, Krabec seals Am honours for RTR Projects in season finale thriller

Henry Hassid and Anthony Beltoise came out on top of a nail-biting four-way fight for the Fanatec GT2 European Series Pro-Am title in an astonishingly close season finale at Circuit Paul Ricard.

The LP Racing duo sealed the title by a single point thanks to a fourth-place finish in the last race of the season on Sunday afternoon, in turn sealing Hassid’s second Fanatec GT2 title having taken the Am honours last year.

The #67 Audi pairing went into the final battle with only seven points in hand over PK Carsport’s Peter Guelinckx and Stienes Longin, and with MZR’s Reinhard Kofler and True Racing’s Stefan Rosina also still in with a shot at the title.

Kofler and teammate Koch were on flying form all weekend, winning both races. A race one penalty subsequently dropped them to third but a textbook race two performance and dominant win brought Kofler agonisingly close to the Pro-Am crown.

Guelinckx and Longin gave their all to try and take the title, running second to the MZR up until the final two-minutes. But a 10s penalty (to be applied post-race) for a short pitstop put the #1 Audi under incredible pressure to pull out enough of a gap on the then fifth-placed #67 Audi. Despite Guelinckx’s every effort to achieve that and keep the #15 KTM behind him, it wasn’t meant to be.

Jan Krabec, meanwhile, sealed the Am crown in style with two more class wins – the second clinched in the final turn of the final lap – to cement his seventh class victory. 

Race 1: Mercedes-AMG for the win as new Maserati also stars

It was the new Maserati GT2 in the hands of Leonardo Gorini that led the field away from pole position for the penultimate showdown of the season on Sunday morning. Pulling clear of second-place Hassid, Gorini pushed to pull out a comfortable advantage to steer clear of the intense battles playing out up and down the field behind him.

With the first lap complete, it was the Maserati from Hassid’s #67 Audi while Kofler was already up to P3 from fourth on the grid. That triggered a ding-dong battle with the #87 Mercedes-AMG which rolled on for several laps before Beaubelique could find a way through and then duly pushed on to take Hassid for second.

As Gilles Vannelet, replacing Nicolas Saelens after yesterday’ accident in the #15 True Racing KTM, closed on the squabbling trio, a four-way battle for second soon unfolded and Kofler moved up one more spot to third ahead of the pit stop window. Pitstops complete, the drama really began to unfold, with title contenders PK Carsport immediately picking up a 10s penalty for causing a collision with the #16 Am KTM, doing nothing to advance either crews championship chances.

Back at the front, Kofler – now in the #812 – was giving his all to slice the lead Maserati’s advantage, which in turn allowed the #87 to hone it. With seven minutes remaining, a moment from Pirri - now in charge of the #12 – was all the invitation the MZR KTM needed to slip through and the Mercedes-AMG followed suit. 

Pirri, however, comfortably held on to third to claim an historic first podium on the Trident’s return to GT Racing.

Krabec delivered a textbook drive from pole to flag to take win number six in France. His strong early race pace saw the #89 KTM run as high as sixth overall among the Pro-Am runners, which gave the RTR Projects driver a healthy buffer to the next Am finisher.

Series newcomers, NM Racing’s Stéphane Perrin and Jakub Knoll notched up a second-place class finish on the #888 Mercedes-AMG race debut, ahead of the Angerhofer/Sarmini True Racing KTM. With new entrants to the final round eligible to score points, the #16 picked up those 18 points while Ebimotors’ Mantas Janavicius and Aurelijus Rusteika took the 15 points for third.

Race 2: MZR holds on to take maiden win as titles decided in France

Since the team’s debut in Valencia last month, Kofler and Koch have twice won on track but neither victory held due post-race adjustments. Today, it was time for the MZR duo to put the record straight.

A blistering start ensured Kofler leapt into the lead from the lights and, while the pursuing pack were busy jostling for position, the #812 KTM made good his escape and never looked back.

The #61 Akkodis ASP Mercedes initially took second but a spin mid-way through the first lap allowed Longin up to second ahead of Pierre Kaffer’s LP Racing Audi third, while Beltoise got shuffled back to seventh.

From there, the order from third to seventh continued to change right up until the pitstop window, by which time the #87 Mercedes-AMG managed to briefly overhaul Longin for P2. The pitstops reversed that order, the Akkodis ASP car serving compensation time from its inherited race-one win, placing the PK Carsport crew as champions elect.

But a pitstop short by just one second would cost them dear, leaving Guelinckx with 10-seconds to pull out on Hassid, now onboard the #67 Audi and lying six seconds behind in fifth. Guelinckx almost had the situation in hand until Vannelet had other plans and the pair battled hard right up until the closing moments when the KTM prevailed.

Beaubelique/Badey delivered another stunning performance in only their second Pro-Am outing to come through to third from ninth on the grid. With the post-race penalty applied, the PK Carsport crew classified fifth, while the #88 LP Racing Audi of Stéphane Ratel and Mattia di Giusto completed the top six.

Krabec may have headed into the final encounter with an eight-point lead but had to fight every inch for the title. Down to 10th at the start, Krabec found himself third in class behind Sarmini. Although things got a little too close for comfort between the two KTMs, Krabec managed to move up to second before the pitstops. But he had to wait until the very final corner to pull off a blinding move on the NM Racing Mercedes-AMG to take his seventh win of the season.