In a rather chaotic Main Race Laurens Vanthoor and Stephane Ortelli won the Baku World Challenge and claimed the 2013 FIA GT Series title. Money makes people greedy is something often heard and it seemed to be just like that on the streets of Baku this afternoon.
Pole sitter Niki Mayr-Melnhof lost out to his teammate Stephane Ortelli on the first corner. Cars hit each other and bodywork flew, but it wasn’t all over as into the first hairpin Nick Catsburg hit the BMW of Ricardo Zonta. At the end of lap 1 three cars were out – including the Marc VDS Racing Team BMW of Catsburg and the new FIA GT Series Pro-Am champions Afanasiev/Simonsen. Hexis Racing’s Rob Bell returned his McLaren to the pit with a puncture, but quickly rejoined.
“Everything went on. I was a bit of a pinball to be honest. I am not sure who started it in the Audi, but the driver on pole made an error, because he went sort of fast and then slowed down a little bit and he was having a bit of a game with his teammate. He lost. I was hit from behind, so the first corner was just a big mess,” said Bell after the race.
Ortelli got stuck behind a suddenly decelerating BMW and lost two positions, leaving Frederic Vervisch in the lead. Problems with the track (debris on track and loose bolts due to the curbstones being destroyed) and a stranded Sebastien Loeb Racing McLaren resulted in a lengthy safety car period.
As the safety car came in so did Frederic Vervisch in an ailing McLaren. Unfortunately he was unable to make it back to his box and he blocked the pit entry. Only the WRT Audi of Ortelli was able to get into its regular pit, Frank Stippler hit the #11 car and Laurens Vanthoor when he tried to get into his and the other teams lost time as the McLaren was pushed away to a safe place.
Vanthoor rejoined and began to hunt down Alon Day. The Israeli driver suffered a mechanical issue and Vanthoor was able to pass him quite easily. The young Belgian driver took the lead and retained it until the flag dropped after 30 laps.
“To be honest I didn’t understand anything about this race. I was quite stressed this weekend because obviously we wanted to win the championship, that was our main goal, and we were not even thinking about winning the race,” said Vanthoor. “I just did my laps, played it safe, not touching any curbs and I got the message bring the car home, doesn’t matter which position and then suddenly they said push. So I pushed and asked them which position are we in? They said P1…”
Behind Vanthoor it was Kevin Estre who crossed the line in second place, a great result after the earlier puncture. However, Estre battled to pass Alon Day’s Mercedes and Alvaro Parente’s McLaren and just before the end of the race the three cars hit each other, causing damage to the right side of the Hexis car. Estre regained control and continued, ahead of Day and Parente. But after the race both Estre and Day were given a 10-second time penalty for their part in the accident and they dropped to third and fourth in the classification. Alvaro Parente, who had crossed the line in fourth place, was promoted to second place, ahead of the Hexis McLaren.
In Pro-Am GRT Grasser Racing Team scored a victory, after a disastrous Qualifying Race earlier in the day. Hari Proczyk and Dominik Baumann finished eight seconds ahead of the Novadriver Audi and a further seven seconds ahead of the TDS Racing BMW. AF Corse’s Sdanewitsch and Leo won the Gentlemen Trophy class.
Marcel ten Caat (@dsceuroeditor)
