FANATEC GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE POWERED BY AWS – 20-21 July 2024

SAM AND CALAN MAINTAIN WINNING FORM AT HOCKENHEIM

The momentum swung considerably towards Team WRT at Hockenheim as the #30 BMW of Sam De Haan and Calan Williams scored a victory, a second place and a pair of overall top-5 finishes, and returned back to winning ways in the Silver Cup.

The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS season resumed last weekend when the Sprint Cup tackledits third round of the campaign at Hockenheim.

The trip to southwest Germany comes three weeks after the centenary CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa and represented a very different challenge from the Ardennes enduro, with a pair of 60-minute races that played out on the 4.6km circuit.

The weekend in Germany started with positive performance for the #30 claiming P4 in the Free Practice session. Qualifying confirmed the continued good form, as Calan qualified in P2 for Race 2 and Sam took P6 for the second race in the Silver Cup. The start, in perfect conditions, went smoothly in Race 1 and Calan made a perfect start delivering a superb performance gaining positions before Sam took over the wheel for the next stint on lap 20. He maintained the advantage and kept control of things during his entire stint. After fighting hard the Brit concurring the second place and finished P5 overall.

The start of Race 2 saw no problems for the #30 BMW M4 GT3. Sam started his stint strongly and by the end of lap 1 gained one position overtaking the #52 Ferrari. He started fighting and with a couple of brilliant moves, gained positions up to P3. After the FCY Sam moved to P2 overtaking the #10 Mercedes and pitted on lap 16.

The pit stop was perfectly executed by the crew. It allowed Calan to keep the second place in the Silver Cup, resistingall attacks during his stint, eventually taking a brilliant victory and P5 overall.

Sam and Calan secured the Drivers’ Sprint Cup Silver standings with a 29.5 points advantage over Gazeau and Panis.

The Fanatec GT Europe is back in action this weekend when the Endurance Cup returns with a three-hour race at the Nürburgring. The Sprint campaign will resume four weeks later, with Magny-Cours staging the penultimate round of the short-format series on 23-25 August.

Sam De Haan: “It was a very strong weekend overall for Calan and I. I think the only downfall was qualifying for me, I didn’t really maximize the potential. But, in the races we executed everything pretty perfectly. I’ve got to say the pit stops were perfect, we gained so much time in the stops so I’m really happy with that. We stayed consistent and ended up near the front. The car was great, the team was great, happy days!”