Blancpain Brands Hatch: Leonard and Vervisch lead Audi 1-2-3

WRT's Stuart Leonard and Frederic Vervisch converted pole into Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup victory at Brands Hatch in their Audi R8 LMS, becoming the fourth different winners in as many races.

Despite missing the Zolder season-opener, there was no rust for Vervisch to shake off as he survived an attempted undercut during the pit window from WRT team-mates Alex Riberas and Christoper Mies.

Leonard rejoined the track narrowly in front of Mies but looked vulnerable to the #2 Audi driver, who had had three laps to settle into his stint.

Going into Druids, Leonard managed to survive a challenge from Mies and held on to win by an eventual margin of 0.5 seconds, with Attempto Racing duo Kelvin van der Linde and Steijn Schothorst third in an Audi 1-2-3.

Vervisch had made a flying start and led into Paddock Hill Bend, his getaway flattered by the sluggish progress of ASP's Rafaele Marciello, who was caught napping by Mies in his Audi R8 LMS.

The WRT driver relegated the Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the first corner before Marciello then slid wide onto the gravel, which allowed van der Linde an easy ride into third.

But Marciello was given respite when the safety car was deployed for a first lap crash that forced both Team Parker Bentley Continental GT3s into retirement.

When Mercedes driver Jack Manchester caused British GT racer Callum Macleod to spin, the latter's team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith was left with nowhere to go.

An awful weekend for Alexey Korneev - a crash in practice, finishing last in qualifying and a spin in race one - was completed as his Mercedes was also collected in the incident.

When Vervisch made a strong restart as the safety car pulled into the pits, the lead WRT car looked on for a comfortable victory.

In an effort to challenge that authority, Mies dived for the pits as soon as the window opened and handed over to Riberas, with van der Linde following suit.

But a momentary delay as Riberas struggled to restart his R8's engine maintained the order as they emerged behind Leonard.

By contrast, Marciello ran deep on his stint as he attempted to undo the first lap damage.

But he carried far too much speed into the pits and glanced the barrier.

Marciello was able to continue and Michael Meadows took over the car, rejoining back in a distant and eventual fourth place.

Mirko Bortolotti brought the Grasser Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 he shared with Christian Engelhart home in fifth, ahead of ASP duo Felix Seralles and Nicolas Jamin.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Will Stevens, who sealed a win for WRT in the day's earlier race through stout defending after taking over from team-mate Dries Vanthoor, retired with rear-wheel issues during the pitstop phase.

Championship race result

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	CAR	LAPS	GAP
1	S.Leonard, F.Vervisch	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi	39	1h01m14.089s
2	A.Riberas, C.Mies	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi	39	0.586s
3	S.Schothorst, K.van der Linde	Attempto Racing	Audi	39	1.280s
4	M.Meadows, R.Marciello	Akka ASP Team	Mercedes	39	12.646s
5	C.Engelhart, M.Bortolotti	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Lamborghini	39	12.882s
6	N.Jamin, F.Serralles	Akka ASP Team	Mercedes	39	14.739s
7	L.Hezemans, F.Perera	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Lamborghini	39	35.731s
8	S.Gachet, C.Haase	Sainteloc Racing	Audi	39	37.286s
9	N.Siedler, S.Ortelli	Emil Frey Lexus Racing	Lexus	39	38.117s
10	A.Watson, L.Moraes	3Y Technology	BMW	39	49.947s
11	N.Stievenart, M.Winkelhock	Sainteloc Racing	Audi	39	1m01.914s
12	P.Schothorst, P.Kaffer	Attempto Racing	Audi	39	1m02.103s
13	P.B.-Bhakdi, C.van Dam	Kessel Racing TP12	Ferrari	39	1m02.663s
14	C.Klien, A.Costa	Emil Frey Lexus Racing	Lexus	39	1m04.482s
15	N.Bastian, J.Manchester	Akka ASP Team	Mercedes	39	1m05.853s
-	D.Vanthoor, W.Stevens	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi	17	Retirement
-	E.P.Companc, A.Caldarelli	GRT Grasser Racing Team	Lamborghini	0	Retirement
-	J.Caygill, A.T.-Smith	Team Parker Racing	Bentley	0	Retirement
-	I.Loggie, C.MacLeod	Team Parker Racing	Bentley	0	Retirement
-	V.Atoev, A.Korneev	SMP Racing by AKKA ASP	Mercedes	0	Retirement