The Blancpain Sprint Series is back for the second event of the season, with a stellar venue: Brands Hatch. The historic and legendary circuit in Kent, welcomes back a SRO-promoted series for the first time since 1996. The track, superbly preserved in almost its original form, is one of the landmark tracks in the world and one that really enhances driving abilities. The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, as all Blancpain Sprint Series competitors, is thrilled about the prospect of racing there and has been preparing thoroughly this special event. The season-opener at Nogaro left the Belgian squad with some mixed feelings: while the Audis R8 LMS ultra proved competitive and Laurens Vanthoor-César Ramos won the Qualifying race, the harvest could have been more positive without a couple of incidents that were analysed carefully once the team came back home. The two pairs competing in the Gold Cup, Vanthoor-Ramos and Enzo Ide-René Rast are completely geared up to go for good results in England, while the young duo composed of Mateusz Lisowski and Vincent Abril is eager to reconfirm its excellent debut in France. The two young guns are not only leading the Silver Cup for ‘under 25’ drivers, but are lying third in the overall standings, having already tasted the satisfaction of a podium finish. There is a sense of quiet confidence in the Belgian squad as it gets ready to cross the Channel. “Brands is a true circuit and a key part of motorsports’ history’, says Team Principal Vincent Vosse, “and everybody is very happy to go there. It’s a fabulous track and we’ll certainly have two great races there, but it is also a track that forgives nothing… We will see how we perform, given also that the entry is gotten richer with two competitive new cars, a Lambo and a Porsche, and we’ll try to avoid mistakes. The objective is to stay focused, do our job well and collect heavy points to get back to the top zone of the rankings.” The team has had a thorough debrief after Nogaro to learn from the two incidents that have eliminated car #1 in the formation lap of the Main Race and car #2 after the Qualifying Race in France. “We have done our homework and addressed those points”, confirms Sporting Director Pierre Dieudonné, “and I am sure the team has come out with useful improvements. Despite its drops, rises and bumps, Brands Hatch has a few similarities with Nogaro, so we think we should be OK there, although you never really know until the first free practice session. We did race there a round of the British GT last year, therefore we have some data to start from, but clearly, Brands Hatch will be some kind of novelty for a majority of teams and drivers.” Most of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT drivers have indeed no experience on the Grand Prix configuration (the longer one) of Brands Hatch. This is the case of Laurens Vanthoor, who explains: “I have raced there in F.3 in 2010, but on the short track, which does not include the faster section. I am really anxious to be there as I consider Brands something like the Nordschleife, Bathurst or Macau, I mean circuits for big boys, where there is no room for mistakes. I don’t think not knowing the entire track will be a big issue. At this level of competition, a driver is trained to learn a new circuit fast during free practice and get into the qualifying session fully familiarized with it. The only pole I took in FIA GT, I remember, was at Donington, when I visited it for the first time…”The young Belgian, in any case, feels already perfectly at ease with César Ramos, his new team mate this season. “César is an excellent and fast driver”, remarks Vanthoor, “we already get along very well and it has been easy to do so. We have more or less the same age, the same approach and the same ambition. We share all the information and the working spirit is excellent, also with our crew, which is also quite new, with a new engineer and many new mechanics. The team has experienced many changes during the winter and I must say we have done a further step forward in terms of professionalism.” Definitely looking for revenge will be the drivers of car #2, René Rast and Enzo Ide, who lost a podium finish conquered on the track in post-race verifications at Nogaro. For Ide too, Brands entails a special plus: “I really look forward to it”, says the young Belgian, “I have been training on simulator, but that is never as good as reality. From what I can say, the track reminds me of Portimão and Zandvoort, two tracks I like very much. René and I are extremely eager to do well. In France we proved that the package is competitive and we aim at repeating that. Since Nogaro, the team has been working a lot to optimize the car set-up, as in France we noticed the car was behaving differently with different sets of tires. I am confident this is now solved.”The track will certainly be an additional challenge for the two youngsters in the team,  Mateusz Lisowski and Vincent Abril, but the Pole and the Frenchman have proven at Nogaro that they aren’t afraid of anything and that their talent is a reality. “They simply have to continue to do what they have shown to be capable of”, underlines Vosse. “They did a wonderful job in France, taking already the lead in the Silver Cup and proving they are a force to be reckoned with also in the overall race results. It’s great for the team to have such fresh blood with us.”The British round will follow an unusual format, as after free practice and qualifying on Saturday, the two races will take place on Sunday, with the first kicking-off at 10:30 and the second at 14:45 (local time). Blancpain Sprint Series - Round 2Brands Hatch, United Kingdom  17-18 May 2014 Timetable (all times local = CET-1)Saturday 17 May 201410:00-11:00 Free Practice 112:45-13:45 Free Practice 217:30-18:25 Qualifying Sunday18 May 201410:30-11:30 Qualifying Race (1 hour) 14:45-15:45 Main Race (1 hour) Belgian Audi Club Team WRT#1   Laurens Vanthoor (B) – César Ramos (BR) #2   René Rast (D) – Enzo Ide (B) #4   Vincent Abril (F) – Mateusz Lisowski (PL) (Silver Cup) Additional WRT-prepared car (entered by G-Drive Racing)#3   Roman Rusinov (RU)  – Stéphane Ortelli (MC) Drivers’ provisional standings after Round 1 of 7 1. Buhk-Götz (Mercedes SLS)       27 points2. Guilvert-Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra)    213. Lisowski-Abril (Audi R8 LMS ultra)     154. Bueno-Jimenez (BMW Z4)    145. Afanasiev-Dusseldorp (Mercedes SLS)     137. Vanthoor-Ramos (Audi R8 LMS ultra)      88. Ide-Rast (Audi R8 LMS ultra)      6Drivers’ provisional standings after Round 1 of 7 (Silver Cup)1. Lisowski-Abril (Audi R8 LMS ultra)       34 points2. Colombo-Fumanelli (BMW Z4)    223. Bastian-Toril (Mercedes SLS)     21Teams’ provisional standings after Round 1 of 7  1. HTP Motorsport                          25 points2. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT              233. G-Drive Racing                          214. AMC Team Brasil                                 165. Phoenix Racing                          12