GT: Tough weekend in wet conditions for Blancpain Sprint Series at Zandvoort

Sat Jul 5th 2014, Blancpain Sprint Series – Round 3 – Zandvoort – The Qualifying Race for the third round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series at Circuit Park Zandvoort turned out to be a very wet and spectacular affair. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk, with their #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, led the race from start to finish, despite twice losing the gap they had built up due to safety car interventions. Championship leaders Götz and Buhk put their #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes in a very close second, while Laurens Vanthoor and Cesar Ramos and their #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi crossed the line in third.

Victory in the Silver Cup went to Audi drivers Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski, Pro-Am honours went to the Lamborghini duo Sascha Halek and Stefan Landmann. When the cars left the grid for the formation lap, all drivers had opted for slick tyres, despite some drops of rain falling on the Zandvoort asphalt.

At the start polesitter Jeroen Bleekemolen managed to hold on to first place, despite Laurens Vanthoor putting the Lamborghini-driver under pressure. Peter Kox, who had started in third, made a slight mistake in the opening laps and dropped to 6th. Bleekemolen had a hard time to open up a gap from Vanthoor, but then the rain started to grow heavier.

Rivers ran across the track, but the drivers tiptoed their way around, in the knowledge that the pit window for the driver change would open five minutes later. When Marcus Winkelhock lost control of his #6 Phoenix Racing Audi and ended up in the gravel trap, the safety car intervened. Bleekemolen lost his six seconds’ lead, but kept his head cool. By slowing down considerably, he avoided having to do an extra lap in the rain and was the first car to get into pitlane when the pit window opened. Team-mate Hari Proczyk was the first to leave the pitlane as well, but behind him everything changed. The pitstop at Belgian Audi Club Team WRT did not go as planned and Cesar Ramos, who had taken over from Laurens Vanthoor, dropped to eighth. Behind Proczyk, Maximilian Götz in the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes was now in second, with Stefan Rosina in the #88 Reiter Engineering Lamborghini in third.

Halfway through his stint, the Slovakian driver was put under pressure by Enzo Ide in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi. The Belgian did not need much time to pass Rosina, but when Filip Salaquarda tried to follow suit, his #90 Scuderia Villorba Corse Ferrari collided with Rosina’s Lamborghini. Both cars went off, causing another safety car intervention. With two laps to go, the lights went to green again. Maxi Götz did everything he could to get his Mercedes into the lead, but Hari Proczyk made his Lamborghini the widest car on track. The Austrian managed to hold on to first place, scoring a third consecutive win. Behind Proczyk and Götz, another exciting duel had decided the last spot on the podium. Cesar Ramos concluded a brilliant drive in the wet by passing Enzo Ide on the outside of Tarzan corner.

In Silver Cup, Stefano Colombo in the #34 ROAL Motorsport BMW was the first leader, but a mistake forced the Italian to make an early pitstop. From then on the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi of Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski controlled the race, despite making contact with the #4 Audi in the final lap.

The fight for the Pro-Am Trophy was decided in the final laps. Marc Basseng had given the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi to Alessandro Latif when leading the category and the Briton managed to hold on to that position for most of his stint. After the last restart Latif was engulfed by the cars behind him, allowing Sascha Halek in the #27 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini to slip past and taking the win in the Pro-Am Trophy.

Jeroen Bleekemolen (#28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini): ‘Our car was great, both in the wet and the dry. When the first safety car came, I wasn’t sure whether we were allowed to have our pitstop under safety car. But the team quickly told that we were and then I had to slow down a lot not to be too soon at the pit entry. I noticed that Laurens behind me was doing the same, and an extra lap on slicks in the wet would have cost us a lot of time. Hari drove a brilliant stint as well, but I don’t want to live through such a close fight at the end of the race again! When you are sitting in the box, it’s very nerve wracking.’

Maximilian Götz (#84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes): ‘I had figured out that Hari was quicker in the first and last sectors, so I tried to overtake him in the second one. I took a different line and when exiting turn 10 I was beside the Lamborghini. Unfortunately, I was on the outside for the next corner, so I could not complete the pass. I did not want to take too many risks either, because I did not want to lose the front row position for the main race.’

Cesar Ramos (#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi): ‘We have to analyze what happened at the pit stop, but it was obvious that all did not go to plan. When I rejoined I was in eighth, so I did not have much to lose. I had to give it my all and the car behaved wonderfully. After the last restart I managed to overtake Enzo for third. It’s not what we really wanted, but considering how the race went for us it is not too bad.’ Vincent Abril (#4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi, 1st Silver Cup): ‘When the rain came down, I was on slicks, so it wasn’t too easy for me. Still, we were one of the quickest cars on the track, and without the safety car intervention, we would have probably gained some more positions. The pit stop was perfect and Mateusz did an amazing job to bring the car home.’ Stefan Landmann (#27 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini – 1st Pro-Am Trophy): ‘When the pit window opened, the team understandably wanted to focus on the pitstop for the #28 car, so I had to stay out another lap. We lost a bit of time there, but through a bit of luck at the end we managed to take the lead and win the Pro-Am Trophy.’

Top 101 – #28 Proczyk/Bleekemolen – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 30 laps 2 – #84 Götz/Buhk – HTP Motorsport Mercedes + 0.408 3 – #1 Ramos/Vanthoor – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi + 2.245 4 – #2 Ide/Rast – Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi + 3.290 5 – #76 Baumann/Jäger – BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW + 5.263 6 – #21 Renauer/van Lagen – Tonino Team Herberth Porsche + 5.480 7 – #61 Pentus/Lloyd – Bhaitech McLaren + 15.331 8 – #27 Halek/ Landmann – Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini + 20.376 9 – #3 Rusinov/Ortelli – G-Drive Racing Audi + 28.327 10 – #5 Latif/Basseng – Phoenix Racing Audi + 29.095

 

Blancpain Sprint Series – Zandvoort Round – Main Race

Sun Jul 6th 2014 – Sudden rain and rare mistakes from some of the top drivers turned the main race of the third round of the Blancpain Sprint Series at Circuit Park Zandvoort into a spectacular affair. In the end René Rast and Enzo Ide, driving the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi, took top spot, just holding off the Series newcomers Dominik Baumann and Thomas Jäger in the #76 BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW. Dutchman Jaap van Lagen took third, at the wheel of the #21 Tonino Team Herberth Porsche he shares with Robert Renauer.

Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski in the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi were again the quickest drivers in the Silver Cup, while Sascha Halek and Stefan Landmann in the #27 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini took their second Pro-Am Trophy win of the weekend as well. The main race of the Dutch round of the Blancpain Sprint Series started with a twelve-minute safety car period, due to a crash at the start, involving the #3 G-Drive Racing Audi of Roman Rusinov and the #60 Bhaitech McLaren of Fabio Onidi.

At the restart polesitter Hari Proczyk managed to hold off the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes of Maximilian Götz, though the German in the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini kept the pressure on. Proczyk was still in the lead when the pit window opened, but then it all went wrong for the team that had won the last three races. The mechanics had difficulties in putting the right rear wheel on the car, and once Jeroen Bleekemolen got going, the Dutchman spun, losing all hopes of a podium finish.

New leader Maxi Buhk – who had taken over from Götz – now had René Rast, in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi, all over his back. Conditions changed suddenly, when a brief rain shower passed over the Zandvoort track. A couple of cars decided to pit a second time to take on rain tyres, but the leaders stayed out on slicks. On the wet track Buhk had difficulties holding René Rast behind him, and halfway through the stint, the Audi driver made an exemplary passing move to take the lead of the race. Soon afterwards Buhk dropped further down the order after spinning in the Mastersbocht.

That left René Rast in the lead with a rather comfortable margin, but Series newcomer Dominik Baumann put his #76 BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW through its paces to close the gap from the leader completely. With five minutes to go the Audi and the BMW were nose to tail, but Rast increased his pace again and took the team’s first win of the season, earning the 30.000 euro bonus that goes with it. Some twenty seconds behind the leading duo, Jaap Van Lagen got the Dutch fans on their feet when he stormed towards the front behind the wheel of his #21 Tonino Team Herberth Porsche. In their first Blancpain Sprint Series meeting of the season, Van Lagen and team-mate Renauer eventually ended up on the lowest podium step. Maxi Buhk and Jeroen Bleekemolen managed to cut their losses by finishing in fourth and fifth respectively. In sixth were the winners of the Pro-Am Trophy.

With their #27 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Sascha Halek and Stefan Landmann had a faultless race, leading the class from start to finish. Silver Cup winners Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski were running in third overall for a while, the result of switching to rain tyres during the driver change. With the track drying quickly, the #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi could not manage to match the pace of the cars on slicks however, dropping to ninth eventually. Their main contenders in the Silver Cup, the #34 ROAL Motorsport BMW of Colombo and Fumanelli had also switched to rain tyres and finished in 12th overall.

René Rast (#2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi): “There was a little hesitation when the rain came, but after radio contact with the team we decided to stay out on slicks. It wasn’t easy, but I had some practice yesterday, when the conditions were the same. Once I was right behind Buhk, it was difficult not to hit him, because our cars were all over the place. We never touched though, and when I made my move, he left me the space to pass. Towards the end, I thought I had enough of a lead, so I slowed down a bit. To my big surprise the BMW closed the gap in the space of one lap, so with five minutes to go I had to push again. Luckily the track had dried, so I could manage some good laps at the end of the race.”

Thomas Jäger (#76 BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert BMW): “This was my first start in a GT3 car, and I am so happy that I had a good one. After a few laps I managed to overtake the Porsche and was able to close the gap towards the Audi. Dominik drove an excellent second half of the race and the whole team is very happy to score a podium finish in our first race in the Series.” Jaap van Lagen (#21 Tonino Team Herberth Porsche): “We had some issues throughout the weekend, because we never managed to find the speed on the dry. On a wet track our Porsche behaved marvellously though. So even though on Friday I thought we could never finish inside the top-10, the team did everything they could to improve the car and I am very happy to reward their hard work with a podium finish. The fact that I could do this in front of my home crowd is an added bonus.”

Stefan Landmann (#27 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, 1st Pro-Am Trophy): “Just like during the qualifying race I had to drive in the wet with slick tyres. I had to tell myself to stay calm, because I knew the track would dry. I had never driven a single lap of Zandvoort before this weekend, and winning twice this weekend makes me pretty happy.” Vincent Abril (#4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi, 1st Silver Cup): ‘At the beginning of my stint, I really thought we could take the overall win in this race. We were one of only two or three cars on rain tyres and I was setting the quickest lap times. But the rain quickly stopped and I was surprised on how fast the track was drying up. Every lap there was a different line to take. In the end, the guys on slicks had no trouble in overtaking me, but fortunately we managed to hold on to first place in the Silver Cup.’