Macao, Nov 17 (IANS) Mercedes’ Maro Engel has taken his second career FIA GT World Cup victory after an ultra-close battle between the leading group on wet Guia Circuit, with the Mercedes-AMG ace capitalising on mistakes from Antonio Fuoco and Raffaele Marciello in the closing stages of the race.
Nine years after his victory in the inaugural running of the FIA GT World Cup, the German secured his second triumph in what was also the third straight victory for Mercedes-AMG in the world’s most prestigious sprint race for GT3 machinery, following the manufacturer’s successes in the previous two editions with current BMW man Raffaele Marciello.
The race got underway with the safety car leading the pack for the first four laps, leaving the 22 runners with 12 tours of racing action to decide the 2024 FIA GT World Cup.
Once the racing commenced, polesitter Marciello initially settled into the lead in his BMW M4 GT3 from fellow front-row starter Dries Vanthoor, Ferrari’s Fuoco and Engel, who were trying to go around the outside of the Italian as they were negotiating the Lisboa corner.
From that moment on, the top five, completed by another BMW of Augusto Farfus, were running pretty much nose to tail. Vanthoor initially managed to stay within 0.5s of the race leader, but his attention quickly had to shift from attacking to defending, with third-place man Fuoco looking very racey.
With nine laps to go, the 296 GT3 with the 24 Hours of Le Mans winner behind the wheel launched a successful attack on the M4 GT3 of the Belgian into R Bend, the final corner of the circuit.
From that moment on, it went from bad to worse for Vanthoor who was immediately under pressure from Engel. The two came together in the mountain section of the circuit, with the Team WRT BMW driver brushing the wall at Turn 12, after a nudge from Engel, which ultimately led to him retiring the car.
Fuoco in the meantime, went on to pursue Marciello and within one lap reduced the gap to his leading compatriot from 1.5s to 0.4s. Three laps from the checkered flag, Fuoco managed to repeat his R-Bend move, now at the expense of Marciello’s race-leading BMW.
The race was however far from over and the two continued their fray for the coveted FIA GT World Cup. Eventually, the victory was not meant for any of them, as both outbraked themselves going into the Lisboa corners with the two cars making contact but making the corner.
This led to Engel inheriting the lead and going on to win his second FIA GT World Cup, crossing the line over 11s clear off his nearest rival. The German received a 5s penalty for his coming together with Vanthoor but this did not alter the finishing order.
2018 FIA GT World Cup winner Farfus went on to finish second, delivering success for Macau-based Team KRC which operated his M4 GT3 this weekend, with Sheldon van der Linde rounding out the top three in another BMW.
–IANS
bc/
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