Williams takes maiden GT win alongside Love double

Calan Williams has backed up with his debut Monza endurance podium in the GT WCE with victory at Brands Hatch in the comparitive Sprint Cup.

Fellow Australian and Mercedes AMG Junior Factory Driver, Jordan Love, also made his GT WCE Sprint debut, with the 22-year-old taking P2 in Race 1 of the Silver Class, backing that up with P3 in Race 2 alongside teammate Frank Bird for the Haupt Racing Team (HRT).

The 22 year-old Williams raced alongside German teammate Niklas Krutten, taking out the Gold Cup Class win in Race 2 at the historical British circuit.

Williams races the #30 BMW M4 GT3 for Belgian team WRT, racing in both Endurance and Sprint GT WCE series for the successful team.

After a debut podium for WRT at Monza, Williams took the #30 BMW M4 GT3 to a Sprint Cup victory at Brands Hatch. Image: Fotospeedy

For Williams, the former F2 youngster was flawless in the second stint of the finale, after the pair netted P4 in the opening race.

“It’s a great way to start the season in the Sprint Cup, with a win,” Williams said. 

“I’m really happy with that, the team did a great job all weekend and the car was great. We showed we have the pace on track and in the pit stops, and that allowed us to have these great results.”

Krutten took the first stint of the 41 lap race, with the #30 starting P2 on the grid (P8 overall).

Jordan Love (right) and his teammate Frank Bird took a podium double at the GT WCE Sprint Cup at Brands Hatch

Starting from the outside row, the German youngster had the M4 in P10 overall, and second in the class when he handed over to Williams.

With Williams inheriting the stint following a safety car and grouped field, fresh tyres saw him come out with an undercut on the class leading Audi, moving into the Gold Cup lead and P7 outright.

Matching the leading GT3’s, the Aussie blitzed his nearest competitors to push out to a mammoth 20 second class win over his nearest rival.

WRT team principal, Vincent Vosse, was ecstatic for the young #30 crew, whilst in the Pro class, Valentino Rossi took out a P2 for his first GT WCE Sprint podium.

Love made his GT WCE Sprint Cup debut for Haupt Racing in the #77 Mercedes AMG GT3

“I really want to stress the great weekend of our young guys in the Gold Cup, they won race two whilst taking a great seventh overall. The drivers were fantastic and the pit stops were perfect.”

In the Silver class, Love took on his first Sprint Cup series format, with the West Aussie having spent much of his racing life as an Endurance specialist.

In a nine-car class field, the pairing qualified the #77 AMG GT3 in P2 and P3, which is where they managed to keep it for their double podium sweep.

Williams’ next challenge sees him back in the endurance category for the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000 on June 2-4, whilst Love will take on the Nurburgring 24 on May 18-21 in the Nurburgring Endurance Series for HRT.

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