Marc A. Hayek (President and CEO of Blancpain) and Peter Kox grab P4 in qualifying
Transmission damage prevents top10 position in qualifying race
Early retirement due to crash right after the start of championship race
The exciting season opener of the new Blancpain Sprint Series took place at the 3.636-km Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro, France over the Easter weekend. Almost 40 top drivers, including 6 former Formula 1 contestants, battle for points and podium places this year.
It was a very positive debut for the pairing Marc A. Hayek (President and CEO of Blancpain) and Dutch race driver Peter Kox, who are contesting the series for Blancpain Racing team. Compared to other teams who had previously tested their vehicles at the track, the duo completed their first tests in the Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 during the free practice sessions on Friday and Saturday. Hayek and Kox used the 160-minute session to make themselves familiar with the track and the car as well as to try different set-ups in collaboration with the team.
Both benefited from the set-up in the qualifying. In the end, Peter Kox at the wheel of the Gallardo secured the fourth fastest time (1:28.559) and therefore a place in the second row for the qualifying race on Sunday.
Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen took the first pole position of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series, driving the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. He will share the front row for Sunday’s Qualifying Race with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT driver Laurens Vanthoor. His teammate René Rast will start from row two, next to Peter Kox in the #24 Blancpain Racing Lamborghini. Mateusz Lisowski was fastest of the Silver Cup drivers, finishing in 13th overall with his #4 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi.
Sunny conditions greeted the twenty drivers that opened the qualifying hostilities in Q1. After fifteen minutes the 29-year-old Brazilian Sergio Jimenez of the BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil created a bit of a surprise by staying in front of two Audi R8 LMS ultra, driven by his countryman Cesar Ramos and local hero Gregory Guilvert. Maximilian Buhk in the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes and Filip Salaquarda in the #90 Scuderia Villorba Corse Ferrari completed the provisional top five.
During Q2, Jimenez’ time of 1.25.486 proved hard to beat and it took an inspired effort by René Rast in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi to push the Brazilian BMW driver down to second. His team-mate and former F1-driver Nelson Piquet jr. slotted into fourth after Q2, his time being only 0.035 slower than the one set by Cesar Ramos in Q1. Then Armaan Ebrahim, driving the #62 Fortec Mercedes, went off in the final corner. The session could continue however, with the Indian driver unharmed in the incident. Marcus Winkelhock in the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi was the only driver in the top ten able to improve in the final minutes of Q2, but with five Audi, two Lamborghini, two BMW and one Mercedes within nine tenths of a second, Q3 promised to be a thrilling ten minutes of qualifying.
The first round of the Blancpain Endurance Series started traditionally last weekend at the Autodromo di Monza.
Initially Reiter Engineering had entered the new Camaro GT3, but at testing in Oschersleben a problem prevented the team to run the car and therefor raced it's Gallardo FL2 which also over the winter had an intensive development program.
Reiter entered in the Pro categorie with Albert v. Thurn und Taxis, Tomas Enge and Peter Kox.
During free practice the team found a well balanced set up that gave them a good car for the race.
Albert took the start and instead of having contact opted to take the escape road resulting in losing a lot of places.
However he managed to gain some places back before the first round of pitstops.
The biggest gain however came from the crew of Reiter Engineering who did a tremendous job moving the car up 10! places resulting in P11 when Tomas started his stint.
