Ninth place in Race 1 only positive point for Rusinov and Ortelli
The third round of the Blancpain Sprint GT Series, held in changing and difficult weather conditions at Zandvoort in the Netherlands, turned out sour for the G-Drive Racing Audi R8 LMS ultra. At the end of the weekend, a ninth position in the Qualifying Race on Saturday was the only positive fact to report.
Things started to be uphill in qualifying, as Roman Rusinov could not avoid an off-track at the very beginning of the session. Unfortunately, the car couldn’t be retrieved from the gravel and the car lost the entire session, which meant last position on the grid for the qualifying Race.
The Saturday race took place in dreadful weather conditions, with heavy rain on and off. Despite the difficulty of starting from the back, Stéphane Ortelli and Roman Rusinov put together an excellent performance, climbing up positions and taking P9 at the end.
On Sunday, for the Main Race, the team could hope to improve the result but Rusinov was touched by the Phoenix Audi few meters after kick-off and sent into the barriers, which ended the Dutch weekend.
After the summer break, the Blancpain Sprint GT Series will come back on 23-24 August with the round at the Slovakiaring.
QUOTES
Roman Rusinov: “It has been a very disappointing weekend, after the one at Brands Hatch, but racing is sometimes like this. The positive I take away is that in Race 1, despite the very heavy rain and the fact that overtaking is very difficult on this track, we managed to finish ninth. Now we will focus on the next round, hope bad luck is behind us.”
Vincent Vosse, Team Principal: “There is little we can say: sometimes things go wrong from the start and that is what happened. It’s a pity because the car and the drivers had a good pace here, as proved in Race 1 and by the other WRT cars. The team worked well and I am confident Roman and Stéphane will soon show their real value.”
Blancpain Sprint Series - Round 2 Brands Hatch, UK - 17-18 May 2014
Qualifying Race result:
1. Proczyk-Bleekemolen (Lambo FLII) 30 laps in 1h01m45s733
2. Götz-Buhk (Mercedes SLS) + 0s408
3. Vanthoor-Ramos (Audi R8 LMS ultra) + 2s245
4. Rast-Ide (Audi R8 LMS ultra) + 3s290
5. Baumann-Jäger (BMW Z4) + 5s263
9. Rusinov-Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra) +28s327
Main Race result:
1. Ide-Rast (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 31 laps in 1h00m21s573
2. Jäger-Baumann (BMW Z4) + 1s366
3. Renauer-Van Lagen (Porsche 911R) +20s732
4. Götz-Buhk (Marcedes SLS) +37s996 5. Bleekemolen-Proczyk (Lambo FLII) +49s430
Ret Ortelli-Rusinov (Audi R8 LMS ulktra) 0 laps (accident)
Provisional Drivers’ standings (Pro Cup) after Round 3 of 7 :
1. Buhk-Götz (Mercedes SLS) 69 points
2. Bleekemolen-Proczyk (Lambo FLII) 61
3. Ide-Rast (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 36
4. Bueno-Jimenez (BMW Z4) 33
5. Vanthoor-Ramos (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 27
…Ortelli-Guilvert (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 21
Provisional Teams’ standings (Pro Cup) after Round 3 of 7 :
1. HTP Motorsport 69 points
2. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 67 3. Grasser Racing Team 63
4. BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil 41
5. Phoenix Racing 25
5. G-Drive Racing 23
