Caldarelli, Mapelli are Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe champions

Orange1 FFF Racing Lamborghini duo Andrea Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli are the inaugural Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe drivers’ champions.

They came to season’s finale at Hungaroring as championship leaders and managed to defend their position after finishing fifth in the first race and fourth in the second race in the #563 Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

The winners of both races were Vincent Abril and Raffaele Marciello in the #88 Akka ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3. Such a great result secures teams’ championship title for Akka ASP.

The #88 Mercedes took victories in both races

Black Falcon’s Maro Engel and Luca Stolz reached two podiums this weekend in the #4 Mercedes, finishing second in the first race and third in the second race, to finish the season as vice-champions.

There was a drama in the last race because the #563 crew started from P13 on the grid. Their main rivals started from P4 and Maro Engel quickly progressed to P3. With Engel third, the #563 FFF Lamborghini needed to be at least fourth if Caldarelli and Mapelli were to take the title. They managed to reach P4 after pit stops, staying there until the end of the race. In the end, both crews have 92.5 points but the #563 crew takes the title on a race-wins countback.

Championship trophy on the roof of the #563 Lamborghini Huracan GT3

There was even more reason for FFF Racing to celebrate, with Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Phil Keen clinching the Pro-Am drivers’ title with another class victory in Sunday’s race. The FFF squad also picked up the Pro-Am teams’ title, meaning they will leave Hungary with three championships secured.

The Silver Cup title was won by Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer (#89 Akka ASP Mercedes-AMG), who took second in the deciding race while the sister #90 machine of Felipe Fraga and Timur Boguslavskiy secured the final victory of the season.

The lone Am Cup machine of Florian Scholze and Wolfang Triller was 25th at the chequered flag, with their #444 HB Racing Ferrari finishing on the lead lap and taking the Amateur class title.

Vice-champions and champions in the front row

Check the results of Blancpain GT World Challenge races at Hungaroring

The finale of the European Blancpain GT Series season is scheduled for September 29 at Barcelona, where the 3-hour race will be the last round of the Endurance Cup.

Photos: Dirk Bogaerts and Patrick Hecq,