Race 1
Ricardo van der Ende and Bernhard van Oranje took the first race win in the GT4 European Series at the Zandvoort Masters.
In the Dutch dunes the Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport drivers battled with Porsche drivers Jörg Viebahn and Bertus Sanders, as well as Dutch teammates Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje and Simon Knap. Nissan GT Academy Team drivers Frans Verschuur and Bernhard ten Brinke were victorious in GT4 Am.
The two Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport cars pulled away right at the start and after two laps they were already four seconds clear of the rest of the field. By then Jörg Viebahn, who had started from the back of the grid, had moved into fourth place and not much later the German driver also passed Luc Braams in the Las Moras Racing Team Camaro GT4.
Marcos Vivian in the Cor Euser Racing Lotus went off into the gravel trap at Scheivlak and race control deployed the safety car as a result. Just after the restart Viebahn passed Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje and two laps later the PROsport Performance Porsche took the lead when Viebahn overtook Bernhard van Oranje.
Bernhard and Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje entered the pit lane together when the pit window opened, while Viebahn stayed out for two more laps. A short pit stop for Alfab Racing resulted in the Aston Martin taking the lead, but soon after it was penalized for the infringement.
Sanders returned in front of Van der Ende and Knap, but he soon lost a position to Van der Ende. When Daniel Roos came into the pit to serve his penalty Van der Ende inherited the lead, half a second clear of Sanders.
The Porsche driver fought back and on lap 22 Sanders briefly took the lead as the cars rounded turn 10. Into the Hans Ernst corner the BMW was back in the lead, while Knap had managed to close the gap to the two leaders.
Van der Ende took advantage of heavy traffic and pulled away from Sanders and Knap. After 30 laps he crossed the line, almost six seconds clear of Sanders and another second ahead of Knap.
In GT4 Am Fabian Lauda was on his way to victory after Rob Severs and Liesette Braams were given a stop-and-go penalty for a short pit stop. But with just a couple of minutes remaining Lauda spun his Lotus Evora GT4, which allowed Nissan GT Academy Team driver Bernhard ten Brinke to take the lead. Lauda quickly recovered from his spin to take second position, the BMW of Severs and Braams finished third.
Bernhard van Oranje: “It took a long time for the lights to go green, but I wasn’t distracted and Pieter-Christiaan and myself had a clean start. We had some issues with our brakes and the fact that we had to let by the BRCC cars made it quite difficult. Jörg Viebahn was in between the Belgian cars and I didn’t notice him passing me. But then I managed to stay right behind him and Ricardo finished the job.”
Ricardo van der Ende: “Right from the beginning of the weekend, we fear the men with the Porsche 911 and they were also the fastest today. But I really went for it and managed to claim victory on experience!”
Jörg Viebahn: “We didn’t do qualifying, so we had new tyres and that was the key. I attacked right away because it was the only chance to use the peak of the tyres to get up front. In turn 3 everyone was oversteering and I could accelerate much quicker. Most of the cars at the back were really nice. They saw me coming and they moved over. Once I was up front I just saved the tyres and it was up to Bertus to do the rest of the job.”
Bertus Sanders: “As soon as I joined I got into a battle with Ricardo. The car then went into neutral, which allowed Ricardo to pass me, although I could quickly close the gap to him again. I was able to fight with him, but then we got in between the BRCC cars. I was a bit unfortunate, unlike Ricardo. After that there was a three-seconds gap and we were so evenly matched I couldn’t get back to him.”
GT4 European Series – Result Race 1
1. Ricardo van der Ende / Bernhard van Oranje (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, 30 laps
2. Jörg Viebahn / Bertus Sanders (GER/NED), Porsche 911 GT4, + 5.854 seconds
3. Simon Knap / Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, + 6.797
4. Duncan Huisman / Liesette Braams (NED/NED), Camaro GT4, + 17.694
5. Daniel Roos / Erik Behrens (SWE/SWE) , Aston Martin Vantage, + 25.240
6. Bernhard ten Brinke / Frans Verschuur (NED/NED), Nissan 370Z GT4, + 45.779
7. Fabian Lauda (AUT), Lotus Evora GT4, + 59.775
8. Rob Severs / Liesette Braams (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, + 1:13.972
9. André Grammatico (FRA), BMW M3 GT4, + 1:30.377
10. Jan Joris Verheul / Marcel Nooren (NED/NED), Camaro GT4, + 1 lap
11. Marcos Vivian / Cor Euser (ESP/NED), Lotus Evora GT4
Race 2
Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport claimed another victory in the GT4 European Series at the Zandvoort Masters. At the circuit on the Dutch coast Ricardo van der Ende and Bernhard van Oranje in the BMW M3 GT4 beat the PROsport Performance Porsche 911 GT4 of Jörg Viebahn and Bertus Sanders in front of 14,607 spectators. The Alfab Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Daniel Roos and Erik Behrens finished in third place. Rob Severs and Liesette Braams claimed a home win in the GT4 Am category with their BMW M3 GT4.
Duncan Huisman took the lead of the race at the start, but on lap three it was Ricardo van der Ende who positioned his BMW next to the Camaro. He took the lead as the two headed into Gerlach corner.
Van der Ende and Huisman fought for the lead, while behind them Simon Knap , Jan Joris Verheul, Cor Euser and Bertus Sanders started to fight each other for fourth place. Daniel Roos was right between the two groups in third place.
Shortly after the pit window opened Verheul tried to pass Knap into the Hans Ernst corner. Verheul hit Knap’s BMW and the two cars lost momentum. Lotus driver Euser took advantage and passed the two cars. At the same moment GT4 AM leader Bernhard ten Brinke suffered a damaged wheel on his Nissan 370Z GT4. Ten Brinke returned to the pits, but was forced to retire.
The top two came into the pit together at the end of lap 18 and Bernhard van Oranje rejoined in front of Luc Braams. The Racing Team Holland driver quickly pulled away from the Las Moras Racing Team Camaro. Coming from behind Viebahn cut through the field. First he passed Erik Behrens and on lap 25, with 11 minutes to go he passed Braams to take second.
In the remaining laps Viebahn was able to reduce Bernhard van Oranje’s lead, but given the time remaining the German driver was unable to completely close the gap. After one hour Van Oranje was the first to cross the line, almost four seconds ahead of Viebahn. The Alfab Racing Aston Martin finished in third place, almost 27 seconds behind Van Oranje.
Liesette Braams and Rob Severs benefited most from the retirement of the Nissan GT Academy Team 370Z GT4. The Las Moras Racing Team BMW M3 GT4 had been in second place before the pit window, but inherited the lead when Ten Brinke was forced to retire. A trouble-free run after the pit stops resulted in the win for the pair.
Ricardo van der Ende: “Bernhard really did well. He had nobody to race against, while I had Duncan right behind me. Duncan made my race, my compliments! I had to push on every single lap. This was absolutely awesome!”
Bernhard van Oranje: “According to Ricardo he handed over a perfect car for my stint. I might have to ask him again if he can explain to me what perfect means… Fortunately I was able to start the race from a promising position and was able to pull away from Luc right from the start.”
Daniel Roos: “I ended up in the middle of nowhere. I did my own race to save the tyres for Erik. We had been struggling quite a lot with understeer here. I saved the tyres for Erik and then he did his job. It is their backyard, so we coming in here and finish third is good!”
Erik Behrens: “Zandvoort is a fantastic track, but it’s tricky and tactical. I had a good stint, a good start especially, then the rain came and I just heard that the track was getting slippery. I drove slower for three laps, then the Porsche came through. I came closer to Braams and the second Camaro, who spun. I could overtake Braams, after a really good and fair fight.”
Jörg Viebahn: “Starting from behind Bertus did a perfect job. Simon Knap held us up for a while, which allowed the other competitors to pull away. He then saved tyres to give me the best possible car. Two more laps would have been enough for the win. I was really pushing hard, the car was perfect.”
Bertus Sanders: “I wanted to join the quick guys. I tried to save my tyres for half an hour, so that Jörg could attack. As a result of that we managed to finish second here.”
GT4 European Series – Result Race 2:
1. Ricardo van der Ende / Bernhard van Oranje (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, 31 laps
2. Jörg Viebahn / Bertus Sanders (GER/NED), Porsche 911 GT4, + 3.963
3. Daniel Roos / Erik Behrens (SWE/SWE) , Aston Martin Vantage, + 26.766
4. Duncan Huisman / Liesette Braams (NED/NED), Camaro GT4, + 38.361
5. Simon Knap/Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, + 45.442
6. Jan Joris Verheul / Marcel Nooren (NED/NED), Camaro GT4, + 48.634
7. Rob Severs / Liesette Braams (NED/NED), BMW M3 GT4, + 1:04.373
8. Fabian Lauda (AUT), Lotus Evora GT4, + 1:34.967
9. André Grammatico (FRA), BMW M3 GT4, + 1 lap
10. Marcos Vivian / Cor Euser (ESP/NED), Lotus Evora GT4, + 1 lap
11. Bernhard ten Brinke / Frans Verschuur (NED/NED), Nissan 370Z GT4
