Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 5,984teamzr1 Owner - Pays the bills
teamzr1 Owner - Pays the bills Lives in Engine Bay
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 5,984
America
TF Sport Corvette Victorious in LMGT3 After Final Lap Drama, AF Corse Penalty
In the LMGT3 category, Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood came out on top after a dramatic final lap that saw the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 hit with a late-race penalty. Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera appeared on course for their second victory of the season after Rovera rejoined in the class lead following a fuel stop in the closing minutes.
However, the No. 21 car then received a five-second penalty for a pitstop infringement that brought it under threat from TF’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
While Rovera initially appeared to have a sufficient margin in hand, the silver Ferrari then slowed dramatically on the final lap, crossing the line just two seconds clear of the chasing Eastwood.
As a result, the No. 81 Corvette was declared the winner with the penalty applied, resulting in a second LMGT3 victory for the Tom Ferrier-led squad after the No. 33 sister car triumphed in the Qatar season opener.
The No. 81 crew does have a potential Sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, as Eastwood remains under investigation for a Turn 13 clash with Augusto Farfus in the final ten minutes of the race.
Farfus, Yasser Shahin and Timur Boguslavskiy completed the class podium with their No. 31 The Bend Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO, with the sister No. 46 car of Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi and Kelvin van der Linde coming home in fourth.
Van der Linde came out on top in a fierce late-race battle with the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz, with the Austrian rounding out the top-five in the class in the car he shared with Ryan Hardwick and Riccardo Pera.
The second Corvette came in at 8th place and 1 lap down
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