The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT takes stunning double win at Brands Hatch with Vanthoor-Frijns

The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT takes stunning double win at Brands Hatch with Vanthoor-Frijns

10/05/2015

This time, Brands Hatch had sweet flavour for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, as Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns signed a double victory on the iconic track, taking both the Qualifying and the Main races of the second round of the Blancpain Sprint Series. That was a perfect revenge after the poor start of the season at Nogaro, where the young duo couldn’t race because of a heavy crash in qualifying. In Britain, the weekend also started with car #1 into the barriers, but luckily the outcome was completely different. Moreover, Vanthoor-Frijns leave England as leaders of the overall Sprint standings, one point ahead of team mates Richelmi-Ortelli. It was a less successful weekend for the other three Audis R8 LMS ultra of the Belgian squad, although all of them finished the races, scoring valuable points that give the team a strong lead in the Teams’ ranking.

Team Principal Vincent Vosse was obviously satisfied with the result: “I am, of course, a happy man after such a weekend, especially given it did not start in the best fashion”, he admitted, “This said, if everything, from drivers to cars and pit stops, was perfect with car #1, that wasn’t the case with the three others, for different reasons. Nothing serious, but in such a competitive series you see that all details make a difference. This means we still have to work hard and improve in many areas, although today was definitely a good day.”

Saturday started indeed in a nightmare mode, as Laurens Vanthoor crashed heavily in the first lap of free practice 2, leaving the team in fear of a repetition of the Nogaro scenario for car #1. Luckily enough, the team could repair the rear of the car on time for qualifying. In Q2, Vanthoor was already three tenths quicker than last year’s pole and in Q3 he further improved by three tenths, stopping the watch in 1.23.269, after what the Belgian qualified “an almost perfect lap”. He did not go for one more attempt to save his tires. “This one is for the mechanics, because after my going off in the morning, they had to work hard to get the car ready in time.” More satisfaction came as Mies put #2 in P3, with Stippler and Richelmi qualifying 11^th and 16th respectively.

The Qualifying race saw a faultless show from Vanthoor in the first stint, where he controlled well the threats of the Catsburg’s Lambo, then from the pit crew and finally from Frijns. A clear win was the result. The #1 crossed the line ahead of #2 of Mies-Ide, which had been in the top positions for the entire race before taking P2 in the second stint, when the Lambo was imposed a drive-through. Unfortunately, the Belgian Audi would also be inflicted a 30” penalty, dropping to P9, following an infringement during pit stop, when the car was released too early.

Nash-Stippler took final 8^th position, with Ortelli-Richelmi finishing 11^th after a slight off of Ortelli in the opening lap and a contact by Richelmi with a Bentley in the closing phases.

Main Race will be almost a photocopy of the first race for car #1, with Frijns building a 3-second advantage that Vanthoor would extend in the second stint. Richelmi-Ortelli will finish seventh after passing the sister car of Nash-Stippler during the pit stop. The Anglo-German duo will close the race in P9. Ide-Mies would be again the unlucky ones, getting another penalty (for jump start) and finishing in P14.

Needeless to say, the two young guns of the Belgian squad were particularly happy at the end of the day, with Vanthoor extremely thankful for the great job done by the mechanics and J.G. Mal-Voy (“This one is for J.G.”) while Frijns underlined that “I am starting to get adjusted to GT racing”.

The United Kingdom will host the next rendez-vous in the Blancpain Series, this time on its Endurance version, with another classical race, at Silverstone, on 23-24 May.

Blancpain Sprint Series - Round 2

Brands Hatch, United Kingdom

9-10 May 2015

Qualifying Race results:

1. 1. Vanthoor-Frijns (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 42 laps
2. Brito-Abreu (BMW Z4) - 26s711
3. Walkinshaw-Dolby (Nissan GT-R) - 27s054
4. Bueno-Jimenez (BMW Z4) - 27s515

8. Nash-Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 56s429

1. 9. Mies-Ide (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 1m06s520

11. Richelmi-Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 1m09s312

Main Race Race results:

1. Vanthoor-Frijns (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 42 laps

2. Brito-Abreu (BMW Z4) - 14s168

3. Estre-Bell (McLaren 650S) - 19s444

4. Bueno-Jimenez (BMW Z4) - 24s033

5. Catsburg-Thurn u.Taxis (Lambo LP560) - 27s682

7. Richelmi-Ortelli (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 37s037

9. Nash-Stippler (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 44s058

14. Mies-Ide (Audi R8 LMS ultra) - 1m09s450

Provisional Drivers’ standings (Pro Cup) after Round 1 of 7 :

1. Vanthoor-Ortelli 34 points

2. Ortelli-Richelmi 33

3. Martin-D.Müller (BMW Z4) 31

4. Abreu-Filho 24

5. Ide-Mies (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 19

…. Stippler-Nash (Audi R8 LMS ultra) 8

Provisional Teams’ standings (Pro Cup) after Round 1 of 7 :

1. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 61 points

2. BMW Sports Trophy Team Brazil 55

3. Attempto Racing 19

4. HTP Motorsports 19

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