Budapest
Christian Engelhart gets back to winning ways and aims to follow that up at the Sachsenring
Challenging conditions paved the way for Christian Engelhart to chalk up his third win of the 2018 season on the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 at the Hungaroring near Budapest last weekend. Teaming up again with Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart produced a terrific start and first lap in the Blancpain GT Series to help his Grasser Racing Team drive to victory.
Christian Engelhart’s team took a big risk before the race in Budapest. Shortly after an intense downpour, the conditions changed and the Lamborghini works pilot and his team decided to take a greater risk: slicks instead of rain tires, “all in” instead of safety. And that courage paid off in the end. Despite tremendously strong competition, especially from the Mercedes-Benz pilots, Christian Engelhart was able to take the lead with a plucky maneuver at the start. And the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 stayed ahead after the change of drivers. The duo was thus able to celebrate another deserved victory at long last after a lengthy barren spell thanks to a very fine performance.
Engelhart also had the chance to follow up that win on the Sunday. The pace was again extremely fast and the distances between the cars incredibly small. Engelhart/Bortolotti were third on the grid and so had a very good starting position. Mirko Bortolotti also got off to a good start. The Mercedes-Benz pilots were again the main adversaries in the battle for a place on the rostrum. An error during the pit stop meant that Christian Engelhart had to take a drive-through penalty: The car was sent on its way again while a tire was not quite behind the line – a decision involving a matter of milliseconds and so a harsh punishment for the team. Nevertheless, the result after the 28-lap Sunday race was a success. Christian Engelhart managed to overtake four cars after a safety car phase. The duo Engelhart/Bortolotti finally crossed the line in sixth.