RTR Projects grabbed an incredible last-gasp victory in the second Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli race from Circuit Paul Ricard, Jan Krabec winning by the closest margin in the series’ history.
Taking a podium in the opening contest in France, the KTM X-BOW GT2 pairing of Krabec and Matej Homola went two places better in the second 50-minute race of the weekend, after a phenomenal race-long fight between KTM and Maserati GT2 rivals.
It went down to a nail-biting final lap battle between last year’s Am champion Krabec and Team MZR’s Koch, with the former cutting inside the Swiss driver and then later out-dragging Koch to the line by 0.072s. The winning cushion was the closest in Fanatec GT2 history, Team MZR’s Koch finishing second with Pro-Am team-mate Reinhard Kofler who led the early running.
LP Racing threatened to make it two wins in a day with a spirited charge through the field from Leonardo Gorini in the #1 Maserati, but a spin in his efforts to take the win on the penultimate lap gifted third place to the sister #2 car of Philippe Prette - also taking the Am class win.
KTM one-two in closest ever Fanatec GT2 finish
LP Racing had a double win in their sights with Carlo Tamburini starting car #1 with Gorini, but that lead lasted less than a lap as a determined Kofler slipped by on the first tour.
Homola started the #89 RTR Projects X-BOW from row two and fended off the attacks of Razoon - More Than Racing’s Simon Birch, the latter running deep at the first corner in his pursuit of third.
Compensation seconds at their pit stops put the LP Racing Maserati duo on the back foot in the second half of the race, but both Gorini and Prette began sensational charges through the pack from seventh and eighth to reach the lead battle between Koch and Krabec.
Gorini brought a six-second lead gap down to nothing with a lap remaining after slicing past Birch’s team-mate Thomas Andersen for third, and the lead trio spectacularly ran three-wide into the final corner before Gorini spun the Maserati a corner later.
Koch and Krabec were left to battle for the win, and a sensational lap of racing ended in the KTM X-BOW drivers running side-by-side past the chequered flag. Krabec timed his move to perfection, winning by the closest margin in Fanatec GT2 history and beating last year’s 0.3s gap at Red Bull Ring.
While car #1 finished a lap down as a result of its spin, it promoted the second LP Racing Maserati of Prette to a strong third place overall and secured his first Am class victory of the term.
The Danish duo of Andersen and Birch finished a strong fourth for Razoon - More Than Racing, making it three KTMs in the top four. Akkodis ASP sealed fifth with its Mercedes-AMG GT2 Am class pairing of Gilles Vannelet and Jean-Luc Beaubelique, ahead of Ronnie Bremer who recovered the #10 RacingLab KTM to seventh place after team-mate Jacob Mathiassen spun due to early contact with Dominik Olbert who retired the #90 KTM.