The first ever Fanatec GT2 European Series outing at Circuit Dijon-Prenois produced two new class winners in France this afternoon. Reinhard Kofler and stand-in teammate Martin Koch claimed the first outright and Pro-Am victory for the #17 Team True Racing KTM X-BOW, while Leonardo Gorini secured his maiden Am class win for Ebimotors.
It was an action-packed encounter from the start of the first 50-minute race of the weekend, with Christoph Breuer managing to out-drag Henry Hassid for the lead heading into turn one. Koch, who sits in for Hubert Trunkenpolz this weekend, was eager to follow suit but instead took a spin halfway round the opening lap.
There was drama early on for PK Carsport too, as the left rear wheel parted company with the car, which in turn required a short safety car period to recover the Audi.
Soon back to green-flag racing, Breuer kept his Manthey Racing Porsche out in front at the restart, but behind him the pressure was building from both Hassid and a hard-charging Gorini. The trio would run line astern heading up to the pit stop window.
While the #15 and #89 KTMs were keeping clear of trouble in fourth and fifth, the battle for sixth ignited with a recovering Koch managing to take Benjamin Ricci’s Mercedes before the compulsory pitstops.
With those complete, it was the Ebimotors Porsche that emerged leading the Manthey Racing machine, but Gorini was soon handed a 13-second penalty for a short pitstop. But with that penalty to be applied post-race, Gorini stayed out front while the pack closed in behind him, producing a thrilling final 10-minutes.
Second-placed Breuer found his Porsche under immense pressure from Kofler, who in turn had the Akkodis ASP Mercedes glued to his KTM’s rear bumper. Kofler managed to get the jump on the Manthey Racing machine, then the smallest of mistakes from Gorini was all the invitation Kofler needed to take the lead approaching the final five minutes.
The #61 Mercedes-AMG GT2 followed suit shortly after. Gorini then got overhaled by the #15 True Racing KTM, #18 LP Racing Audi and Breuer in the final laps. Despite that and the post-race penalty, the Swiss driver still held on to the Am lead.
Current Am leader, Jan Krabec followed Gorini home to the flag for second in class aboard the RTR Projects KTM, ahead of Aurelijus Rusteika in the sister Ebimotors entry.
The second race of the weekend will take place at 17:25 this afternoon, streamed live via GT World on YouTube.