ASC S11 R10 Recap

28 MAR 2022
Autobahn Sportscar Challenge | Season 11 | Round 10
LMP2/GT3 Multiclass Event | Hungaroring

Billy Smith II claimed his fourth win for the season tonight in the Prototype Class with the Autobahn Sportscar Challenge at Hungaroring ahead of Robert Tinsey and Paul Darling. Paul Gibson led the GT Pro Class across the finish line ahead of Ryan Washeleski and Ross Booth with Ryan Robertson taking his fifth win of the season in the GT AM Class ahead of Ian Lake and Liam Rudzitis. “It’s going to start taking the pressure off and going to allow me to take less risks.”, Smith tells us as he further builds on his points lead, “Having this little bit of an advantage I can kind of relax and not have to push it so hard and just enjoy it.”

Robert Tinsey started the evening off on the pole in the Prototype Class with a recorded fast lap of 1:32.959 over 0.19 faster than Billy Smith in 2nd place and Paul Gibson led the GT drivers to the green with a fast lap of 1:42.169. The field had a fairly clean start between the classes as Tinsey had a strong launch off the start pulling away from Smith very quickly to over one second in the first few corners.

Smith struggled getting through traffic 20 minutes into the race with the gap between himself and Tinsey in the lead stretching out to over 4 seconds as Paul Darling pressured him from behind. Ian Lake had caught up to Ryan Robertson leading the GT AM Class and battled side by side, but Robertson was able to regain the lead after a few tense corners. Gibson maintained around a two second gap over Washeleski in the GT Pro Class with 14 laps completed. Ross Booth stayed within reach of Washeleski throughout in 3rd place with Mo Islam following close behind him.

Tinsey choose to pit very early going in 25 minutes into the 60-minute event giving the lead over to Smith who was still under pressure from Darling. Robertson in the GT AM Class missed a corner allowing Lake to close the gap and take the lead away as Robertson rejoined the track in 2nd place. Pit cycles began shuffling the running orders in the Prototype Class halfway through the race placing Tinsey back up into 4th place still over 30 seconds behind Smith who had yet to pit. Darling used lap traffic to get the lead away from Smith just before Darling choose to take his pit stop at the 38-minute mark as Smith again stayed out on track.

Tinsey had advanced up to 2nd place 32 seconds behind Smith as they approached 40 minutes into the race. Smith choose this moment to take his pit stop and came back out onto the track and into turn one just ahead of Tinsey now separated by 0.6 as Smith got back up to a racing pace and secured the lead with Darling back in 3rd place several seconds behind. Gibson had built a lead of over 3.5 seconds over Washeleski in the GT Pro Class with 15 minutes remaining. Robertson took the lead back in the GT AM Class, but Lake stayed close behind keeping the pressure up.

In the final moments of the event Tinsey struggled negotiating through the GT3 traffic and in the end seemed to concede the attempt to catch Smith for the lead with his pace slowing around the final lap. Gibson had over a 6 second lead ahead of Washeleski in the GT Pro Class and Robertson managed to pull away from Lake by over 1.5 seconds as they crossed the finish line in the GT AM Class.

Tonight’s win put Billy Smith at 184 points total so far in the season, 31 points ahead of Carter Kundinger in 2nd place and 38 points ahead of Robert Tinsey in 3rd, giving Smith some breathing room going forward. Ross Booth continues to lead in GT Pro Class with 312 points, 19 points ahead of Paul Gibson. Ryan Robertson has a strong lead in the GT AM Class at 205 points and 54 points between himself and Trent Brown in 2nd place. Satellite Racing, consisting of Robert Tinsey, Ryan Washeleski, and Ryan Robertson, leads in the team standings at 226 points. The drivers now head over to Le Mans for a 90-minute event on April 11th with all of the action broadcast live at 9:05PM EDT only on the Virtual Grip Network!