Mosca-Bennett (AF Corse Ferrari) take second success of the year in close final duel

Carl Bennett and Tommaso Mosca took their second win of the season on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring. The Thai-Italian pair, in their AF Corse Ferrari 296, put a perfect performance to beat the GetSpeed Mercedes of Fabian Schiller and Anthony Bartone at the end of a very lively race, with Mosca winning the final duel with Bartone in the final lap, after a great performance by both drivers.

Local heroes Simon Reicher and Christopher Haase in the Eastalent Racing Audi took third and, most importantly, reclaimed the lead in the standings, thanks also to the fact that Levente Révész and Max Götz finished out of the points, due to a first-lap contact and puncture.  Haase-Reicher now have 102 points, three more than Révész and 15 than Bennett-Mosca.

Ferrari won also in Pro-Am thanks to Austrian outfit Baron Motorsport, with Edoardo Bacci and Philipp Baron beating the ISR Racing Audi of Libor Milota-Filip Salaquarda and the pole-setting Racing  Trevor BMW of Atila Zsigo-Max Hesse.

In Am, the Garage 59 McLaren of Mark Sansom, here associated with former double class champion Marco Pulcini, took its fourth win of the season and now equals on points the #21 AF Corse Ferrari.

THE RACE – Max Hesse became the eighth different poleman this season, at the wheel of the Racing Trevor BMW. The German has an excellent launch but has to concede P1 for a short while, up to corner 3, to Lebbon, recovering it shortly after. Schiller is third ahead of Basz, Baumann, and Rattican. There is a contact between Müller and Kizilov at turn 1, with the Russian spinning and the Swiss stopping shortly after. Götz also has suffered a contact and a puncture, slowing considerably and causing Sansom to spin. The safety car is deployed in lap 2 for two laps to recover the Mercedes of Müller.

At the restart, Hesse keeps the advantage on Lebbon, with Basz third ahead of Schiller, Rattican, Baumann, and Klingmann.  It’s the young Brit shining s he takes fourth from Schiller, who drops to fourth behind Baumann and Bennett. There are fights and contacts at all stages, with Lebbon dropping down the order due to a slow puncture. By lap 15, two laps before the pit stop window opens, Hesse has a 5-second gap on Rattican, with Basz and Baumann following closely, then Klingmann, Bennett, Schiller, Baumann, Baron, and Rugolo, first in Am. Reicher is 14th, and Götz 20th ahead of Lebbon.

After all stops, Zsigo leads by 11 seconds on Jedlinski, followed by Bartone, Pierburg, Kelly and Bacci. While in the lead, Zsigo is holding well, Bartone takes second ahead of Kelly, with Jedlinski fourth, followed by Bacci, Mosca, Pierburg and Haase. Only in lap 39, Bartone will pass Zsigo for the lead with Mosca leading the chase behind them.

A few laps from the end, leaders and chasers get regrouped for an exciting final couple of laps. Mosca attacks Bartone, who resists perfectly and only concedes P1 in the very last lap, at turn 3, while Haase steals third from Kelly, also a few yards from the flag. Follow Bacci, Salaquarda and Zsigo, i.e. the top three in Pro-Am, while a late spin of Forgione leaves the success in Am to Pulcini, ahead of Kell and Naran.

Results are HERE