The sheer emotion from Vincent Abril after the race said it all, winning the Sprint Series Driver’s title clearly means so much. He and teammate Max Buhk drove faultlessly to win both the race and the Driver’s Title with title rival Robin Frijns giving everything he had, finishing second.
“I’m not realising what we did today,” exclaimed Abril after the race. “It was hard to watch, what a season it’s been, what a result, it’s crazy. It’s the biggest thing in my life, and to win the last race against WRT is great too.”
Before the start, the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari was retired from the event, meaning Norbert Sielder’s title chances were over. Engine issues during the morning Warm Up were deemed unrepairable by the team.
The start of the race was chaotic, with both Brasil BMWs hitting each other and careering across the circuit in the run down to Tarzan, tagging the Always Evolving Nissan of Sean Walkinshaw. The #77 of Atlia Abreu was an on-the-spot retirement, the Nissan later threw in the towel after suffering exhaust issues as a result and the #0 Brasil BMW carried on with slight damage. The #6 Phoenix Racing Audi was also involved and retired from accident damage.
It caused a safety car situation, but only for a couple of laps. When the safety car went in there was much confusion, as many of the drivers didn’t realise they could start racing on the exit of Turn 10. This meant Marco Bonanomi in the #75 ISR Audi and Christopher Mies in the #1 WRT Audi in particular rocketed through the field. Bonanomi took the lead of the race, and Mies climbed to fourth; remarkable after starting the race 15th.
It set up a title showdown effectively, as Vincent Abril who soon went round Bonanomi at Tarzan to retake the lead after Bonanomi did everything he could to defend the position. Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies followed him through a few laps later.
It was predictable that Vervisch in the #2 WRT Audi would let Mies through to help Frijns win the title, and he did before the stops. Both the #1 and #84 pitted as soon as the window opened and Frijns lost a few seconds with an issue pulling away from his pit box. When the pair rejoined, Buhk’s lead aboard the Bentley was a healthy four seconds.
But Frijns, who knew it was now or never did everything in his power to catch up to Buhk and try to take the lead and the title.
Lap after lap Frijns slowly reeled Buhk in, until he brought the gap down to half a second. When he was that close he just couldn’t quite line up the German for a move. The R8 was extremely pacy through sector two, but lost a lot of time through the final corner and down the pit-straight, where it lost downforce and suffered a lower top speed than the Bentley.
Buhk’s driving was rock solid, as he made no mistakes, lapping smoothly in defence of Frijns, while Frijns was clearly pushing hard, often drifting wide or even off the track on a couple of occasions in an attempt to close the gap. All the while Nicki Thiim in the #2 sat behind, riding shotgun, but unable to aid the team.
On the final lap Frijns moved ever closer to the rear bumper of the Continental, but he couldn’t quite make the run and followed Buhk across the line. Frijns won the overall Blancpain GT Championship, but the Driver’s Title had slipped through his fingers.
“HTP put so much effort into the new car all year, they did an amazing job,” Buhk said. “I’m really happy, there was a lot of pressure, but I was used to it after the Qualifying race in Portimao. I felt the lead could be lost all the time, he was super quick in the second sector, I saw him in the mirrors all the time, but he gave amount of effort the same as me. I used all the strengths we have in the car and it all worked out.”
Frijns was clearly deflated after the race, and rightly so; a few weeks ago it seemed he and Laurens Vanthoor would be a lock for the title – how quick things can change.
“I was pushing really hard, I couldn’t get more out of it,” Frijns admitted. “I was drifting out of the corners to try and catch the Bentley. Winning the overall championship is great, but finishing P2 isn’t that satisfying.”
The #75 ISR Audi came home a season-high fourth, with the #3 WRT Audi of Stephané Richelmi and Stephané Ortelli fifth after battling with the ISR car throughout.
That’s a wrap on the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series season, it had everything, high drama, great racing on great circuits and a title battle that went down to the final lap. Let’s hope next year, with a revised calendar, brings more of the same.
Stephen Kilbey
