The AF Corse – Francorchamps Motors trio of Vidales/Abril/Neubauer (Ferrari 296 GT3) picked up a top-10 finish in the latest round of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe, the three-hour Endurance Cup race at the Nürburgring in Germany. The win went to Pepper/Mapelli/Perera in the Grasser Racing Lamborghini.
It was quite a complicated weekend for Monaco Increase Management’s GT rookie David Vidales, who was on the pace right from the early practice sessions. In Sunday morning Qualifying, the 22-year-old Spanish driver was the first of the trio to go out on a still damp track, and he lapped in a time of 1m55.434s, which earned him a P14 in his session. Team-mates Vincent Abril and Thomas Neubauer were P2 and P17 respectively in their 15-minute sessions, and the average lap time of the three drivers, as per GT regulations, earned them an excellent sixth place on the grid and a row 3 start.
When the lights went out, Vidales rocketed away down the long pit straight with an incredible start, overtaking four drivers ahead of him in one go and was almost able to squeeze past poleman Patric Niederhauser (Rutronik Porsche) as they went into the tight Turn 1. Unfortunately David’s Ferrari made contact with the Porsche and at the end of the opening lap he had lost momentum and had slipped back to P4. The incident was under investigation for some time, before the Stewards decided on a drive-through penalty for the Spaniard, who held onto that P4 position throughout most of the first hour.
Abril and Neubauer then took over for the final two stints and they ran in a similar pace to the #51 Ferrari of AF Corse teammates Rovera/Rigon/Pier Guidi, hovering just outside the top-10 before the Frenchman eventually passed Dries Vanthoor, whose BMW was in difficulty, thus earning them a P10 finish at the chequered flag.
“First point for us with P10,” declared David. “Mixed feelings today, I was happy with the pace we showed in the race but it was a shame about the penalty while we were comfortably running in P4. I was happy as well about how we performed and managed our qualifying in the damp conditions and in a track where traffic management is not easy. In general, a lot of positives from this weekend, we keep learning and improving. A big thanks to all the AF Corse team, the mechanics, engineers, technical staff for the hard work and a big sorry to car #96 for the contact in the first lap.”
The next appearance for Vidales in the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 will be Round 4 of the Endurance Cup at the Autodromo Nazionale on 20-22 September.
