Gearbox problem forces Tutumlu to retire from GT Open

Despite promising prospectsfor the International GT Open round at the Circuito de Jerez, Isaac Tutumlu and Barzani Racing Team faced unplanned issues in Spain and their weekend ended much earlier than expected. Gearbox problems in race one, when Maxime Soulet, the Belgian driver sharing the car with Tutumlu, retired the car, and even worse they have withdrawn for race two because it is impossible to fix the problems.

In qualifying although the track does not favour Chevrolet features, Tutumlu qualified on row two as he set a quick lap time of 1:44.141 with the car fielded by Selleslagh Racing Team by Barzani the fastest Corvette on the grid. At the start Tutumlu was running in fourth place over his entire stint behind the leading cars, two Ferraris and Team Novadriver Audi. After pitting and handing over to Soulet, the Belgian driver was starting a good recovery but gearbox problems came out of the blue and he had to retire immediately.

“Things weren´t moving as planned. Jerez isn´t an ideal track for Chevrolet cars, but the BoP doesn´t really benefit us. Although I understand it is important to equal cars performances, I don´t think it´s correct that disadvantage with Ferrari cars, even GTS ones”, Tutumlu commented. With respect to the race, he added “everything was going well, and I was not far behind Montermini in fourth place. I think another good result was possible if we forget that mechanical problem. Now our target is already Hungaroring. There we won´t have handicap, so we have no objective other than winning”.


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