In the GT4 European Series, competition is as fierce as ever, and with 38 cars on track, the battle for the top spots was intense.
From the free practice sessions onwards, the hunt for lap times was on, with drivers trying to find fractions a second with each lap. At the end of the first session, the #87 Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo 2 driven by Hadrien David and Jan Duran was fifth in the Silver class and overall. In the second Team Matmut Évolution car (#99), the all-female crew of Gabriela Jilkova and Cindy Gudet set the sixth fastest time in Pro-AM.
The track at Misano is wide and encourages drivers to push the limits. But race control was determined to enforce the rules, resulting in a flurry of lap time cancellations for track limits violations during pre-qualifying. This session saw Gabriela and Cindy claim fourth in Pro-AM (14th overall), while Hadrien and Jan finished 14th in Silver (18th overall).
Early on Saturday morning, two qualifying sessions were held in cooler temperatures, more conducive to performance.
Hadrien David and Gabriela Jilkova were hit the track in the first session. They finished fourth overall (and Silver) and fourth Pro-AM respectively. Jan Duran (#87) and Cindy Gudet (#99) followed in Q2 where Jan finished eighth in Silver and Cindy made it into the Pro-AM top five.
Race 1 – Second place and a podium for the women!
The first race began on an extremely hot track, with temperatures hitting 47°C. In such conditions, tyre degradation would be a decisive factor, and any aggressive set-up could cause problems.
The start was relatively calm, with no major incidents, but the leader immediately set a fast pace. Hadrien maintained his position while Gabriela made progress and moved up to third in Pro-AM.
After 12 minutes, a brief Full Course Yellow was deployed. At the restart, Hadrien David was caught out and found himself in fifth, then sixth on the following lap. Under pressure from the #8 Audi, the Silver driver put up a strong fight and held that position.
Driving at an excellent pace, Gabriela Jilkova was hit by the #32 Porsche, which attempted an aggressive overtake. The Czech driver dropped down to eighth in Pro-AM as a result and a few minutes later, the driver of #32 was penalised for his manoeuvre.
After the driver change, Jan Duran was running sixth in Silver and Cindy Gudet had regained two positions to reach sixth in Pro-AM.
Once again under pressure from the Audi #8, Jan Duran attempted a daring move to defend his position and counter his opponent. But contact sent #8 off the track and Jan Duran was handed a 10-second penalty, applied after the chequered flag.
With 15 minutes to go, #87 was sixth in the Silver class while #99 was fourth in Pro-AM. Cindy Gudet finished the race strongly and secured a superb second place in class for Team Matmut Évolution. This was the crew's best result of the season and their fourth podium since the start of their partnership. As a result, they moved into the top five in the Pro-AM championship.
In the Silver class, Jan Duran crossed the line seventh but was classified ninth after penalties were applied. However, he received the prize for best rookie in this race. The Franco-Spanish pair are also in the top five of the Silver drivers' championship.
Race 2 – A disappointing end to the weekend...
On Sunday afternoon, the sun was beating down on Misano and the heat was already stifling. The two Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo 2 cars of Matmut Évolution lined up in eighth (Jan Duran #87) and 19th (Cindy Gudet #99) positions.
As on the previous day, the start was clean and the tone for the race was established very quickly, via a rapid pace both at the front and in the pack. Jan Duran held position while Cindy Gudet gained a place to move up to fifth in Pro-AM.
Given the track conditions and tyre degradation, competitors had to drive smoothly while respecting track limits, but this did not stop them being aggressive, and the battle continued. Jan Duran found himself under pressure while Cindy Gudet moved up to fourth in Pro-AM.
After 16 minutes of racing, a Full Course Yellow was followed by the safety car, due to a collision.
Two minutes after the restart and with 33 minutes to go, Cindy Gudet attempted to overtake the #51 Ginetta but the two cars made contact and the Toyota left the track. The contact caused serious damage, particularly to the front left wheel, and Cindy limped back to the pits where the #99 car was forced to retire.
Meanwhile, Hadrien David took over the #87 and moved up to ninth. The battle raged and the overtaking attempts intensified. With 11 minutes to go, the #87 Toyota and the #812 McLaren collided. Then, five minutes later, the #96 BMW hit the Toyota thanks to an optimistic move which was particularly unnecessary with the two cars not even competing in the same class. Hadrien David returned to the pits, but the damage was done, and the car was out of the race.
In the Silver championship standings, the #87 crew dropped two places to seventh while in Pro-AM, the female duo in the #99 are sixth, just four points off the top five.
After a six-week break, the competitors will return to action at the Nürburgring in Germany on 29-31 August, for the fifth of this season's six rounds.