Emil Frey Racing: Feller shows its maturity 🎥
SPRINT CUP FINALE At the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup finale in Barcelona, Emil Frey Racing celebrated a double victory in the first race and another podium in the third. Ricardo Feller also shone in the process. The highlights of race 1 show how the double victory and the exchange of places at Emil Frey Racing came about. Because the Austrian [...]
The highlights of race 1 show how the double victory and the swapping of places at Emil Frey Racing came about.
Because the Austrian Norbert Siedler was prevented for health reasons, Ricardo Feller was allowed to take his place as partner of Mikael Grenier in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo #14. The driver from Aargau, who had previously only competed in the endurance races for Emil Frey Racing as the third driver, solved his task on the GP circuit of Barcelona with flying colors already in qualifying.
Pole position and category win for Feller
As the rain set in, the 20-year-old took pole position for the first of the three one-hour sprint races right from the start of the session on slicks. Giacomo Altoè also qualified very well in third place in the second car.
The team from Safenwil converted its ideal starting position into the first double victory in the GT World Challenge Europe. Although Feller had handed his Lambo over to the Canadian while leading, the latter had to give way to the sister car with Albert Costa at the wheel, who was running in the Pro classification and had a better position in the championship.
In second place, Feller/Grenier won the Silver Cup classification as a consolation, in which the team competed for the first time due to the silver classification of the Swiss (gold and platinum riders start in the Pro category).
Error rate too high in second sprint
For the second sprint, Costa captured the fourth pole position in a row for Emil Frey Racing, while Grenier only managed the eleventh-best time among 21 GT3 sports cars. The Canadian quickly worked his way up to seventh place in the race. But because he unintentionally hit a competitor at the rear of his Ferrari, he was given a pit drive-through penalty. After Feller took over, he still managed eighth place.
After the best preparatory work by his Spanish partner, Giacomo Altoè was flagged off as the winner. However, due to a mistake during the driver change, he received a 35-second penalty, which meant he was down to 17th place.
Finally, once again a podium
In the third qualifying session, Costa, who had been leading for a long time, had bad luck with traffic shortly before the end, resulting in only third place on the grid for his car.
While the two southerners finished the last sprint race, which was interrupted for ten minutes due to a mass crash, in fifth place, the second duo managed another podium and their second Silver Cup victory thanks to a strong second half of the race and a spectacular overtaking maneuver by Ricardo Feller.
Emil Frey Racing finished third in the team standings in the GT World Challenge Europe in the Sprint Cup. The Endurance season continues on October 24/25 with the 24 Hours of Spa and concludes in mid-November with the 1000 kilometers Paul Ricard at Le Castellet.
Now follows the season highlight
The team boss was particularly pleased about the great fighting spirit on the Spanish weekend but regretted the missed opportunity for a possible title win in the Sprint Cup. This went to the Belgian duo Dries Vanthoor/Charles Weerts and Belgian Audi Club Team WRT.
Lorenz Frey-Hilti: "I am very proud of the double victory in the first race, the two Silver Cup awards, the pole positions and third place overall in the Sprint Cup. The disallowed victory and thus the lost good starting position for the championship win was tough. We clearly had the potential to do so. Now we need to keep a clear head and focus on the Spa 24 Hours."
