The clean sweep was supported by strong performance by South African team-mate Kwanda Mokoena on his debut weekend for the German Haupt Racing Team and its Mercedes AMG GT3 cars.
RACE 1
As the sun began to set on a warm Spanish Saturday afternoon, Wiebelhaus put in a serene performance to score a third victory from four races in the GTWS. His Haupt Mercedes made a perfect getaway from pole position and quickly built a gap to a guesting Nicki Thiim in SSR Performance’s Lamborghini Huracan. By the end of the 30-minute sprint, Wiebelhaus was 4.116s to the good.
“It was a nice race, quite fun,” said the winner. “I love the track and the car which was perfectly set up, so it was a real pleasure. It was the plan to build a gap and be in front of the Lamborghini before we started lapping cars. Nicki is a good reference, a really experienced and fast guy, so it was a pleasure to race against him.”
Thiim was impressed, the experienced Dane making a one-off GTWS appearance in preparation for his forthcoming season racing the Lamborghini in the DTM. “Good credit to the winner,” he said. “A fast kid you’ve got there, so I hope he has a good future. It was good preparation, I learnt a lot about the car. Thank you for having us, really good preparation for our season.”
But the battle for the final podium spot was far less straightforward. Mokoena in the second Haupt Mercedes faced a race-long threat from Team Joos by Twin Busch Porsche driver Michael Kapfinger, the green and blue 992 GT3 R pressing throughout the race to find a way past. But the white Mercedes was not to be denied, as Mokoena capped an impressive debut. “A bit of a tricky race,” he said. “I felt like we had the pace, we just have a little fine tuning to do with the car. But overall I have to be super-happy. A podium in our first race, I couldn’t ask for more.”
Hubert Darmetko claimed Porsche Cup honours for PTT Racing in ninth overall, with Petros Makris the best of the two Ferrari Challenge entries.
Source: Autosport