The # 63 Lamborghini of the Orange1 FFF Racing team has achieved a hard-fought victory in the 3 Hours of the Nürburgring thanks to the great performance of Mirko Bortolotti, Marco Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli. The Italian trio dominated the race from start to finish, but had to contend with a complex final race with various Safety Cars. Despite attempts to pass the leading GT3, the Mercedes # 88 captained by Raffaele Marciello had to settle for second place. Podium of the Mercedes # 4 and sixth place of the Audi # 32 that well worth a GTWC Europe title for Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts.
Marco Mapelli did not fail at the start and made the pole of the Lamborghini # 63 good -three of four- to take a few tenths of advantage over the Mercedes # 88 in the hands of Raffaele Marciello. Tenths that were regularly converted into a two-second income during the first stint, allowing both of you to roll comfortably. Behind, the # 22 Porsche secured third place with Earl Bamber at the helm, while the good work of Konsta Lappalainen allowed the Lamborghini # 114 to climb to the fourth position in the first bars of the race. With these positions, the first change of pilots was reached.
No notable incidents or position changes, Andrea Caldarelli took over from Marco Mapelli at # 63 in a pit pass that triggered the leader’s lead over eight seconds, since the transfer of powers between Raffaele Marciello and Felipe Fraga in # 88 was slower. This fact, together with the Italian’s better traffic management, left # 63 in a very favorable position at the end of the second stint. In fact, the distance between the leader and the second classified reached 18 seconds when the second hour of the race was completed and there was a new ‘call’ to the pits.
Mirko Bortolotti was at the controls of the Lamborghini # 63 to face the last hour of the race. And as if the Italian were a magnet for incidents that had not occurred until that moment in the race, his advantage disappeared with the first Safety Car of the test. They had to spend 2 hours and 20 minutes to see the safety car, an excessive time for what is usually the championship. The culprit is Boutsen Ginion Racing’s # 10 BMW. And after the reboot, more incidents that were closed with the # 22 porsche crash, serious candidate for the podium. New Safety Car and new reboot.
This second restart was given with a single car folded between the Lamborghini # 63 in the hands of Bortolotti and the Mercedes # 88, already under the mandate of Jules Gounon. With ten minutes to go, the duel for the victory intensified, but there was no time for a final change of position. Mirko Bortolotti assured the victory for the Lamborghini # 63 despite Gounon’s final push with # 88. For its part, the Mercedes # 4 took third place after an excellent race by Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Nico Bastian. The # 163 Lamborghini took fourth place, a well-deserved award for Albert Costa’s work.
In fact, Costa and his teammates have had to slow down the push of the Lamborghini # 114 throughout the entire race to secure this fourth place. For its part, Audi # 32 crossed the finish line in sixth place, enough for Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts to secure the overall GTWC Europe title, crown that can be joined to the Sprint Cup winding that they achieved at Brands Hatch. Behind, Lamborghini # 14 finished in eighth place to clinch the Silver Cup victory. The victory in the Pro-Am Cup has been for the Lamborghini # 19, thus closing the great performance of the GT3 of the Italian firm.