Just like in the morning race of the ESET GT at Red Bull Ring, the start of the second sprint didn’t go smoothly on the first attempt. Matej Kosič with his Mercedes failed to start from the starting grid during the warm-up lap, causing red flags to be waved around the circuit. After a few minutes of delay, the field of drivers went into another warm-up lap and the race began.
Alexander Ober, starting from pole position, once again failed to convert his advantageous starting position into a race lead and dropped several positions. As they entered the first corner, it looked like Jáchym Galáš would take the lead, but Salaquarda managed the tricky turn excellently and accelerated into the lead on the long straight.
Galáš and Matěj Pavlíček, Salaquarda’s teammates, were fighting for the first place in the GTC category, trying to make up for their unsuccessful first sprint where they received penalties. In the third lap, Pavlíček used the slipstream of the Lamborghini in front of him and overtook Galáš on the outside of the third corner. Their battle was being watched by fourth-place driver Libor Milota with his Mercedes AMG GT3. Milota’s teammate from GT2 Motorsport, Dennis Waszek, stopped briefly on the inside of the first corner due to technical problems, causing the safety car to come out on track.
Thirteen minutes before the end, the race was restarted, and Pavlíček literally stuck to the leading Salaquarda. Although the Audi RS8 GT3 and Lamborghini Super Tropheo belong to different categories, Pavlíček used the higher power of his Lamborghini to chase Salaquarda. However, his pursuit of the leader could only last until the technical section of the circuit, where Salaquarda pulled away from his opponent and started to circle in the lead with a safe distance.
Salaquarda thus won his fifth sprint and leaves Red Bull Ring undefeated – he scored victories in both sprints and in endurance. In the GT3 classification, Libor Milota finished second ahead of Ernst Kirchmayr. Miro Konopka finished fourth after a nice battle with Alexander Ober, while Gregor Zsigo closed out the top five with his BMW M4 GT3.
In the GTC category, Matěj Pavlíček celebrated his second victory of the season, ahead of Jáchym Galáš. Behind the two Lamborghinis, a quartet of Porsche 911 cars finished in the order of Franz Lahmer, Manuel Süssenguth, Michael Oliver, and Bob Bau in sixth.
In the GTX category, Bernhard Löffler won ahead of Alexander Ober, both driving Lamborghini Huracans. Denis Liebl finished third, followed by Pavel Sovička in fourth and Alexander Pitigoi in fifth. In the GT4 category, Zénó Kovács secured his fifth consecutive victory ahead of Antal Zsiga and Andrej Lah.