Phil Glew and Charlie Fagg overcame a drive through penalty to win the first GT4 European Series Northern Cup race at Circuit Zandvoort. Despite having to serve the penalty, the Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 finished two seconds clear of the RYS Team InterNetX KTM X-Bow GT4. Third place went to the RYS Team Kiska KTM X-Bow GT4.
Silver Cup points leader Ricardo van der Ende managed to keep the rest of the field behind at the start, with Soheil Ayari retiring his second placed Ginetta G55 GT4 on the formation lap. This allowed Ander Vilarino to take second, ahead of Phil Glew.
Glew passed Vilarino into Tarzan corner and he then went after race leader and title candidate Van der Ende. Braking into turn 8, there was contact between the Ekris and the Maserati, resulting in a spin for Van der Ende and a drive through for Glew. Minutes later Van der Ende was also given a penalty for causing a collision
Behind Glew, Vilarino and Hutchison battled for second, until the Spanish driver was given a drive through for an inaccurate grid position. Glew came in to serve his penalty and just after he had left the pit lane the safety car was deployed, as the #62 Academy Motorsport had ended up in the Scheivlak gravel.
After the safety car period had ended and all teams had made their pit stops, the Equipe Verschuur McLaren of Csaba Mór was leading the race from Angermayr and Siljehaug. Fagg was already back in fourth, despite serving a penalty.
Angermayr increased the pressure on Mór and after 16 laps and with just 16 minutes to go, the gap between first and second was just 0,6s, with Siljehaug following at 2.3s and Fagg at 3.7s. On the run down to Scheivlak, Fagg passed Siljehaug to take third place and he began to reel in Mór and Angermayr, who had been in a fight for the lead by then.
That battle came to a dramatic end with just over nine minutes to go. Heading into the Hans Ernst-corner, there was contact between the #10McLaren and the #14 KTM, resulting in the retirement of both cars and allowing Fagg to take the lead.
A late race accident between the #33 Bullitt Racing McLaren of Stephen Patrick and the #007 Street Art Racing Aston Martin of Micah Stanley resulted in another safety car period, with race control opting for a red flag several minutes later.
Fagg and Glew were declared winners of the Silver Cup class, ahead of Siljehaug and Vandenbalk and Dutch driver and series newcomer Willem Meijer and Lennart Marioneck. A third place finish, however, wasn’t enough for Marioneck to stay in the race to win the Silver Cup, with Van der Ende and Koebolt now out of reach.
In Pro-AM Jan Kasperlik and Jörg Viebahn claimed the win, ahead of Gabriele Piana and Razvan Umbrarescu. RYS Team Panel drivers Benjamin Mazatis and August McBeth finished third in Pro-AM. Points leaders Duncan Huisman and Luc Braams retired from the race and therefore scored no points. With Kasperlik wining the race Braams, Huisman and Kasperlik now share the points lead.
The finishing order in the AM class is still under review, which means the results of Race 1 remain provisional for the moment.
Charlie Fagg (#60 Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4): Today was perfect…sort of! It was definitely the best race I have ever done in my life! Taking over from Phil after his drive through in P16 it was never going to be easy, but I chipped away at the times and the cars and in the end I took P1 away from the fighting two at the dying moments of the race. I can’t wait for tomorrow!”
Phil Glew (#60 Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4): “What an eventful race! One that I will not forget! We had a fantastic start from P6 up to P3, and then after getting into second I chased down the leader. Unfortunately I was caught out by how much Ricardo slowed the car and we made contact. Not ideal and this is not how I wanted to take the lead. After the drive through and safety car, Charlie did an incredible job and I am so pleased for him and the Ebor team who have all done a superb job all weekend!”
