Race 1
Academy Motorsports’ Erik Evans and Marco Signoretti celebrated their second win of the GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club season on Saturday, the duo being elevated to top spot after a penalty for the #8 Team Speedcar Audi.
Gregory Guilvert and Paul Petit had led the race throughout from pole, but a five-second penalty for a Safety Car restart infringement opened the door for the charging Mustang to score its second maximum points haul.
Hendrik Still and Joachim Bölting took a controlled win in Pro-Am after Still was Guilvert’s closest challenger for the first half of the race, while W&S Motorsport celebrated double honours with the #30 Porsche shared by Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle dominating in the Am class.
SILVER:
For the first half of this race it looked like Guilvert and Petit were capable of cruising to their first win of the season, only for the tables to be turned when the #8 was handed a penalty that made the second half a race against the clock.
Guilvert led away from pole and looked to establish a gap over the chasing Pro-Am Porsche of Hendrik Still that had started second, but his early dash was ruined when the race was halted to recover two cars stranded on track.
The restart would bring the race’s turning point, as Guilvert led the field behind the Safety Car before being released and trying to make a break. However, in doing so Guilvert was deemed to have breached the restart procedure and the car was handed a five-second penalty to be added to its race time.
Petit took over for the second half with a six-second lead, but with the Mustang chasing him down. Evans and Signoretti emerged from a superb fight with the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG to run second, and Signoretti successfully closed the gap to Petit to swing the result.
Robert Consani’s strong late stint also helped he and team-mate Benjamin Lariche to jump the sister Team Speedcar Audi, with Petit and Guilvert falling to third in the amended result. Benjamin Lessennes and Ricardo van der Ende were fourth in their L’Espace Bienvenue BMW, ahead of Lluc Ibañez and Alex Papadopulos in the NM Mercedes-AMG. Silver points leaders Hadrien David and Jan Duran retired their Matmut Évolution Toyota with damage after a clash in traffic.
PRO-AM:
When Hendrik Still qualified second overall and way ahead of the class competition, the race was always going to be the team’s to lose, and they so nearly did after a messy pit stop.
Still pitted from second overall with a healthy lead, but a delay on their driver change cost a handful of seconds and allowed the others to catch up. Bölting kept his cool though and drove strongly over the second half to hold off the chasing Mirage Racing Aston Martin of Aleksandr Vaintrub and Stanislav Safronov by just 2.5s.
Mathieu Detry and Fabian Duffieux were third in their AV Racing Porsche, ahead of Stefano D’Aste and Alberto Naska’s PB Racing Lotus Emira.
AM:
Max Kronberg and Daniel Blickle made up for a disappointing start to the year at Circuit Paul Ricard to score a big Am class win.
Kronberg was the star throughout, qualifying the #30 Porsche strongly and successfully running clear across the first half, with Blickle making no mistake to seal the result. Class points leaders Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn grabbed second in their Chazel Technologie Course BMW after a race-long battle with Hans Holmlund in the #90 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra.
Race 2
Robert Consani and Benjamin Lariche claimed their second win in as many GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club events this season as the Team Speedcar duo extended their strong run of form in Sunday’s Race 2 at Zandvoort.
Consani started from pole but briefly dropped behind the sister #8 Audi early on. However, a determined fightback helped him snatch the lead back before the pit window, with Lariche proving unshakable across the second half to secure the result. Coupled with their victory last time out at Circuit Paul Ricard, Consani and Lariche leave The Netherlands with the Silver points lead.
Joachim Bölting and Hendrik Still capped a dream weekend by completing a clean sweep of Pro-Am wins, but only after the PB Racing Lotus that led the class throughout suffered a penalty for a short pit stop. Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Antoni de Barn made it three Am class wins from the first four races in their Chazel Technologie Course BMW.
SILVER:
Consani never let his head drop despite a misjudged start costing the #3 Audi the lead into Turn 1, and the impressive fightback to victory showed how hungry he and Lariche are for this year’s title. Their Zandvoort result means they have secured a race victory at each of the last four GT4 Europe events, a run stretching back to Monza last September.
Paul Petit got the jump at the start to vault past Consani but his efforts to build a gap were put on hold when the red flags flew to recover the damaged #31 W&S Porsche that was stranded on track after being hit.
When racing resumed, Consani closed on Petit at the restart, getting a slipstream into Turn 1 to assume a lead the car would never lose. Things would go from bad to worse for Petit when the #8 was handed its second time penalty of the event, this time for a start procedure infringement. That blew the fight for second wide open.
Jan Duran ran third for the first half and successfully relayed Adrien David to ensure the Matmut Évolution Toyota emerged from the pits in second, just ahead of the Academy Motorsport Ford Mustang of Erik Evans, Lluc Ibañez in the NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG and Roberto Faria’s Mirage Racing Aston Martin. Ibañez found a way past Evans after a mighty fight between the Mustang and Mercedes, eventually muscling by after the pair ran door-to-door for multiple corners. Ibañez pushed hard, but ran out of laps to catch the Toyota. Berkay Besler and Gabriele Piana were fourth for Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport after Piana also passed Evans, with the penalised Audi of Petit and Gregory Guilvert rounding out the top six.
PRO-AM:
Alberto Naska and Stefano D’Aste controlled the entirety of this race aboard their PB Racing Lotus Emira, but somehow failed to win it after a pit stop error cost them dearly.
Naska did a superb job in Qualifying to start the Lotus well clear of his Pro-Am rivals and kept things clean across the first half to bring the car in six places higher than his nearest pursuer. However, the changeover to D’Aste proved too rapid and while the Emira rejoined still in the lead, it was hit with a 12-second penalty for a short stop.
That set up a race against the clock for W&S. Bölting kept the #32 Porsche in the top four before handing to Still, who rejoined third and bravely attacked the #7 Mirage Racing Aston Martin of Stanislav Safronov ahead. An attempt around the outside of Turn 1 resulted in a scary rub on exit, but Still recovered to get the pass done and then closed enough to the Lotus to be elevated to the win on corrected times. Safronov and Vaintrub were third to secure their first podium of the year.
AM:
Nobody could deny Antoni de Barn and Jean-Mathieu Leandri a third win of the season, the Chazel Technologie Course BMW leading from start to finish.
De Barn put plenty of cars between himself and Hans Holmlund’s Toyota Gazoo Racing Sweden Supra in the first stint, leaving Leandri a comfortable run to the flag. Daniel Blickle and Max Kronberg followed up their strong opening race by fighting through to second, with NM Racing Team’s Keith Gatehouse and Igor Sorokin completing the podium ahead of Holmlund.
The GT4 European Series powered by RAFA Racing Club is next in action as part of the support package for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, across June 26-29.
Pics SRO/ Jakob Ebrey Photograpic
