Grasser Racing completed the double at Brands Hatch after a dominant performance from Hari Proczyk and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #28 Lamborghini, ahead of the #84 HTP Mercedes and #0 Team Brasil BMW. The Lamborghini was untouchable all race long.
Proczyk held his lead from pole into Paddock Hill ahead of Maximilian Buhk in the #84 HTP Mercedes, and once again staged a great drive from the front, fending off any threat from behind.
“I had some issues in the opening laps trying to get some heat into the tyres. Luckily Max [Buhk] was having trouble from the BMW behind. After that it was basically the same as in the last race for me,” said Proczyk.
Ex-F1 driver, Giorgio Pantano made a great start from eighth on the grid, coming through the middle of the charging pack, making his way to fourth, splitting the two Brasil BMWs up.
There was a lot of dicing throughout the field in the opening laps. The #84 HTP Mercedes had another race to forget – Stef Dusseldorp and had to retire due to damage sustained from contact at Druids on lap four. Daniel Lloyd too had a disappointing race in the #61 Bhai Tech McLaren, spinning at the exit of Stirling’s and dropping back to 12th.
The #88 Lambo and Phoenix were also in the wars, Stefan Rosina went off on the track at Westfield with Niki Mayr-Melnhof. Melnhof got through the gravel in the #6 Phoenix Audi, but Rosina was beached. Both cars were forced to retire.
Alex Zanardi however, had a very productive outing this time in the #33 ROAL BMW. He ended up finishing fifth, after fighting his way through the field from 17th on the grid, making his way up to 10th in 11 laps and up to sixth after the pit stop cycle.
The top five cars created a huge margin over the rest of the runners by the time the pit window opened at the 25-minute mark, but the cars up front kept themselves equidistant from each other.
“I spent half an hour looking at the rear of the Grasser Racing car ahead,” admitted Max Buhk after the race. “As soon as I got closer, I lost all my aero. As in the first race, everywhere you can overtake here, the Lambo was faster than me.”
Procyzk in the Grasser Lambo was first to pit, giving Buhk a couple of clear laps to try and take the lead. But when Buhk did finally come in, his quick times were nullified by a slow stop.
“We tried a different strategy, we went for two more laps than the Lambo when he pitted. But then on the pit stop something went wrong, and we lost four or five seconds,” added Buhk.
Both Team Brasil BMWs meanwhile had great stops, and gained positions. The #30, then driven by Valendo Brito Filho came out in second place and the #0 driven by Caca Bueno moved up to 4th ahead of the #60 Bhai Tech McLaren.
“We had a great stop, but it would have been quicker if I didn’t have an issue with the door,” said Bueno.
Fabio Onidi in the lead Bhai Tech McLaren lost the left rear wheel shortly after the stops however, and had to pit again from 5th – making it another race to forget for Bhai Tech.
Not all was well for the #30 Brasil BMW either, as a penalty was handed to them for a pit lane infringement, forcing it it plummet down the order from second to ninth. Brit Filho fought Rene Rast in front coming out of the pits however, and was able to move up to eighth – where he would stay for the remainder of the race.
This set up Max Götz in the second-place HTP Mercedes to challenge for the win, but Jeroen Bleekemolen was just too quick. The Dutchman was able to extend his lead to over five and a half seconds with just over 10 minutes to go, allowing him to cruise to the line.
“I had a reasonable gap after the stops, the car was perfect, so it was just an enjoyable ride. I didn’t have to do much else,” said Bleekemolen.
The #5 Phoenix Audi of Alessandro Latif and Marc Basseng won the PRO-AM class again and the #4 WRT Audi of Mateusz Lisowski and Vincent Abril won the Silver Cup.
Next up on the Sprint Series calendar is the round at Zandvoort on July 4th – 6th.
Stephen Kilbey
