- Kofler and Koch extend Pro-Am points lead with late victory
- Germany win is third Pro-Am success of the term for Team MZR
- Philippe Prette follows home to claim crucial Am class win
Reinhard Kofler and Martin Koch surged to victory number three of their Fanatec GT2 European Series Powered by Pirelli campaign for Team MZR in race one at Hockenheim, ahead of Philippe Prette who claimed Am class spoils.
Kofler inherited the #812 KTM X-BOW from Koch and completed a sterling charge from third to first by overtaking Prette in the final minutes to take the win, extending their Pro-Am points lead in the process.
Second place on the road was still an important result for Prette in the #2 LP Racing Maserati GT2, as he finished best of the Am class runners to claim big points in his own title battle.
With the front row of the grid locked out by Am class competitors, Gilles Vannelet (Akkodis ASP, Mercedes-AMG GT2) wasted no time in powering by pole man Prette heading into the hairpin to assume a first-lap advantage. Drama behind hit Pro-Am title contenders Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini (#1 LP Racing, Maserati) however, as the former collided with Mauro Ricci's Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG.
Vannelet kept the chasing Maserati of Prette at bay all the way until he handed over to fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Beaubelique later on, dropping the #87 crew behind the Italian as a consequence of needing to serve 10 additional success seconds at their pit stop.
The Pro-Am entrants flexed their muscles in the second part of the race, and it was Kofler looking dangerous as he powered by Beaubelique into second overall. The KTM driver then trimmed Prette's lead to nothing, and dispatched the Maserati at the hairpin with four minutes on the clock.
It proved the key moment as Kofler and Koch claimed their third respective overall and Pro-Am class spoils of the campaign, while Prette followed the KTM home closely to bag what would be his fourth Am class triumph.
Loris Hezemans (Motorsport 98, Mercedes-AMG) climbed from sixth to third overall after taking over from Eric De Doncker, who were also rewarded with second in the Pro-Am classification. Beaubelique lost out to the #98 crew at the stadium section, but fourth overall was still enough for him and Vannelet to take points for second place in the Am order.
Stéphane Ratel and Stefan Rosina put together a strong run to fifth overall to complete the Pro-Am top three, ahead of NM Racing's Stéphane Perrin and Jörg Viebahn who rounded out the Am podium finishers with their best showing of the year, the #888 Mercedes-AMG coming home in sixth overall.
The duo had finished behind Alexandre Leroy's TFT Racing Maserati on the road after a terrific fight between them, but the latter was given a 12-second time penalty for a short stop that bumped him down the order. Sehdi Sarmini and Klaus Angerhofer’s True Racing KTM took advantage to claim seventh outright, Leroy dropping crucial Am category points as he slotted in behind.
The #53 Mercedes-AMG of Christophe Bourret and Pascal Gibon (Akkodis ASP) took ninth place despite contact with Thomas Andersen and Simon Birch, who rounded out the top 10 in the #80 Razoon - More Than Racing KTM.
Race 2 from Hockenheim takes place at 15:40 this afternoon, and will be available to watch live and for free via the series’ website and GT World YouTube channel.