The opening stages of the race looked like it would be the same three drivers on the podium too for the second successive race as they broke away from Malinowski behind. That was helped by Malinowski driving in his mirror to fend off the Williams cars of Daire McCormack and Denis Shoeniger. Boothby’s pace though was falling off approaching the pit window. First, he’d fall behind Tonizza, courtesy of a neat move through Beausset, then van der Velde at the end of the Mistral straight. McCormack then dropped out of contention in a bizarre incident on the straight. Having fallen behind Mikhail Statsenko, McCormack went for the overtake in the gap between the Audi and the barrier but seemed to get airborne over the kerbs and cones at the absent Montreal chicane and span across the track.
Tonizza opted for a later stop than van der Velde and Boothby, and it cost him the lead as both cars closed up and van der Velde’s Ferrari came past as the trio headed into Signes once more. That was the status quo for much of the second half of the race, though van der Velde couldn’t pull clear of Tonizza, but Malinowski was now closing in on the front three. With ten minutes remaining, he’d climb up onto the podium as team-mate Boothby allowed him by on the straight.
It wasn’t long after that the pivotal moment of the race happened. Tonizza made a play for the lead, making the same move at Beausset as he had on Boothby earlier in the race. However, van der Velde kept his foot in and he came back across the track right into the Lamborghini’s rear three-quarter – sending Tonizza spinning off. The collision also slowed van der Velde, and Malinowski jumped him into the final turn to take the lead with seven minutes remaining. Unsurprisingly, the stewards demoted van der Velde further with a 30-second penalty.
Malinowski was untroubled at the front though, cruising to victory by over a second from – once that penalty was applied – his team-mate Boothby. Statsenko claimed the final podium spot, with Tonizza recovering to take fourth. Boothby now leads the championship after two rounds, courtesy of two second-place finishes, by 15 points from Tonizza. In the Silver class, it was Valentin Barrier with a second successive victory, after fighting through the field from a fifth-place start to take the class lead from pole-sitter Daniil Tylyk just after the pit stops. Tylyk would also pick up a 30-second post-race penalty, giving Vojtech Fiala second place. Danila Cherepenin would inherit third after Dario Iemmulo caught a five-second penalty.
GT World Challenge Esports Europe Sprint Round 2 results
- Maciej Malinowski (Veloce – McLaren 720S GT3) – 32 laps
- George Boothby (Veloce – Ferrari 296 GT3) +1.775
- Mikhail Statsenko (ITB Sainteloc – Audi R8 GT3 Evo) +3.071