© Planetlemans - Marcel ten Caat
The opening round of the FIA GT3 European Championship at Silverstone was won by the AutoGt Racing Morgan Super Sport of Dimitri Enjalbert and Johan-Boris Scheier. In an exciting race the #100 Morgan stayed out of trouble and took victory after one hour of racing.
As the lights went out it was the Hexis Racing Aston Martin DBRS9 of Thomas Accary that had the best start and even before the end of the straight it was already ahead of the Morgan. Enjelbert stayed close however and even before the lap had finished he was back in the lead again, two Audi R8 LMS close behind.
Two laps into the race the second Morgan went wide and dropped from fifth to way down the field. One lap later the #1 Matech GT Racing Ford GT spun off and took the Brixia Racing Aston #10 with it. While the Ford GT managed to get back in the race, albeit way down, the Brixia car was forced to retire.
At the front the Morgan, Aston and two Audi’s started to pull away from the rest of the field, the gap growing to the length of the entire pit straight within only a couple of laps. Behind them Luca Moro retired his car at Club while Manuel Rodrigues returned to the pit to retire after colliding with another car.
With the pit window opening on lap 12 several cars came in, but the two Audi R8 LMS cars stayed out and battled each other. Nicolas Armindo went onto the grass in an attempt to pass Christopher Mies, but stayed in fourth place. A couple of laps later all leaders had made their stop.
After the pit stops Johan-Boris Scheier was in the leading Morgan, ahead of Julien Rodrigues in the Aston, with Haasse’s Audi right behind him. This lasted for two laps before Haasse passed the Aston Martin and went after the Morgan.
Twenty-two laps into the race Haasse had closed the gap and at Priory he put the Audi on the inside of the Morgan and moved ahead to take the lead. Haasse pulled away and it looked like Audi would take a win on its debut race rather than Morgan taking its first victory.
However three laps later the car suddenly slowed down and Haasse returned to the pit lane where he retired his Phoenix Racing Audi.
With the Morgan several seconds ahead of the Aston Martin and not much time left Scheier made no mistakes and drove a steady last part of the race. When the chequered flag came out it marked the first ever win in the FIA GT3 European Championship for the team, the car and the two drivers.
The full result can be found here.
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