The Street Art Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of Jérôme Demay and Damien Dupont claimed victory in the fourth round of the Competition102 GT4 European Series at Spa-Francorchamps today. Demay and Dupont overcame a first-lap incident to take their first overall victory in the series, finishing almost half a minute clear of the second placed RYS Team Hohenberg KTM X-Bow GT4 of Mads Siljehaug and Maciej Dreszer. The RYS Team KTM KTM X-Bow GT4 of Laura Kraihamer and Jamie Vandenbalck came across the line in third place, but was later excluded for not serving a drive-through penalty. PROsport Performance drivers Jörg Viebahn and Peter Terting inherited third place as a result and are the new championship leaders.
With 58 cars on the grid it was always going to be tricky on lap one. Out of the La Source hairpin things went wrong already and several cars hit each other. One of the main victims was Simon Knap in the pole-sitting Racing Team Holland by Ekris Motorsport Ekris M4 GT4. Knap was hit and was forced to retire after just one lap. Knap’s teammate Ricardo van der Ende moved into the lead quickly, but soon the KTM X-Bow GT4s began to close the gap and on lap eight Maciej Dreszer passed the Dutchman to take the lead. Not much later Cédric Freiburghaus also passed Van der Ende to take third. Several laps later Van der Ende was also forced to retire, when his car started to overheat.
The two Reiter Young Stars teams held onto the lead during the first round of mandatory pit stops and after all the stops were completed it was a KTM top three. Mads Siljehaug was in the lead, followed by Immanuel Vinke and Tim Stupple. Stupple lost his position when he was given a 25 seconds stop-and-go penalty for a pit stop infringement, which promoted Jörg Viebahn in the #118 PROsport Performance Porsche Cayman PRO4 GT4 to third place. That became second when Vinke suddenly stopped on the pit straight and was unable to finish the race.
With 15 minutes remaining Siljehaug was still leading ahead of Viebahn, but both cars had yet to make their second mandatory stop. The Street Art Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4, which had been involved in an incident early on, had already completed two mandatory stops and when the KTM and Porsche came into the pits for their final stop, Demay moved up into first place on the timing screens. After 45 laps he was the first driver to be shown the chequered flag. Siljehaug finished in second place overall, taking the GT4 PRO class win for RYS Team Hohenberg.
“The start of this race was crazy. Jérôme had an accident and I thought I wouldn’t drive today at all. As it is my home track it is great to win at Spa! This is a great moment for the team with the new car. The setup was not optimal yet, as we didn’t have enough time to optimize it here. We are planning a test before the next race at the Hungaroring,” said Dupont.
“The old car, which is from 2011, was more complicated than our new one. This new car was easier to drive and much quicker. we were two, three seconds faster,” added teammate Demay. “Thirty minutes from the end of the race we knew we had a good chance to win, as the two cars in front of us did not pit yet.”
In GT4 AM the championship leading Allied Racing BMW M3 GT4 of Jan Kasperlik and Dietmar Lackinger retired from the race, which has allowed Giuseppe Ghezzi and Alessandro Giovanelli to close in on them. The Autorlando Sport Porsche 911 (997) GT4 finished in second place, behind the race winning Street Art Racing Aston Martin. The #140 Brookspeed Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4 of Steven Liquorish and Graeme Mundy completed the GT4 AM podium
The Competition102 GT4 European Series will now join DTM for round five of the 2016 season, which will be held on September 25 at the Hungaroring. In Hungary there will be two 50-minute races.
Competition102 GT4 European Series – Spa-Francorchamps – July 8-9, 2016
1. Damien Dupont / Jérôme Demay, Aston Martin Vantage GT4, 45 laps
2. Mads Siljehaug / Maciej Dreszer, KTM X-Bow GT4, 45 laps
3. Viebahn / Peter Terting, Porsche Cayman PRO4 GT4, 44 laps
4. Lennart Marioneck / Tim Stupple, KTM X-Bow GT4, 44 laps
5. Giuseppe Fascicolo / Mauro Calamia, Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4, 43 laps
6. Nicolaj Møller Madsen / Andreas Patzelt, Porsche Cayman PRO4 GT4, 43 laps
7. Carsten Strüwe / Hendrik Still, Porsche Cayman Clubsport GT4, 43 laps
8. Jorge Rodrigues / Juuso-Matti Pajuranta, Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4, 43 laps
9. Caitlin Wood / Maximilian Voelker, KTM X-Bow GT4, 43 laps
10. Alessandro Giovanelli / Giuseppe Ghezzi, Porsche 911 (997) GT4, 43 laps