Mies/Riberas sweep Blancpain Misano weekend
Alex Riberas and Chris Mies dominated the second Blancpain Sprint Cup race at Misano in their WRT Audi to complete a sweep of the weekend.
Mies quickly dispatched the #82 Grasser Lamborghini of Franck Perera on the opening lap and stayed behind Raffaele Marciello’s #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes.
After Marciello damaged the front left of his car hitting the inside kerb at Turn 15, Mies got the #1 car into the lead just before the pit window opened.
Riberas came out of the pits with a large advantage after the other frontrunners made their stops, extending his lead to the sister #2 WRT Audi of Will Stevens and Dries Vanthoor to just over 10 seconds by the chequered flag.
Vanthoor had started the race down in sixth place, but was able to make the most of troubles ahead of him to rise up into second by the time Stevens got behind the wheel.
The #25 Sainteloc Audi of Simon Gachet and Christopher Haase made their way from seventh at the start to finish third, making it an all-Audi podium.
The manufacturer also had a fourth-place finish through Kelvin Van der Linde’s #66 Attempto Racing, although Van der Linde had to fend off a late challenge from the #87 AKKA ASP Mercedes with Nicolas Jamin behind the wheel.
After retiring from the lead of the first race, Jamin entered the car after his teammate Denis Bulatov had risen up the grid from 12th, and was able to get past the #17 WRT Audi of Stuart Leonard to take the Silver Class victory.
The #88 had fallen down to ninth place after Marciello handed the car over to his teammate Michael Meadows, the latter losing a position to Nyls Stievenart’s #26 Sainteloc Audi in the latter quarter of the race.
All three Grasser Lamborghini cars suffered tyre punctures during the first 25 minutes.
Tim Lumb
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