Qualifying and qualifying race Zolder
Stéphane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor took a convincing victory in the Qualifying Race today at Circuit Zolder, ahead of the second round of the 2013 FIA GT Series which will be held tomorrow afternoon.
Ortelli took the chequered flag in the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT run Audi R8 LMS ultra, heading home nearest rivals Peter Kox and Stefano Rosina’s Lamborghini by just over 10-seconds, to take a maximum score of eight points. Local hero, Laurens Vanthoor (who can see the circuit from his garden at Turn 2!), started the race and hunted down early race leader Stefan Rosina, making a clean move on the 12th lap before instantly pulling away, giving his team mate Ortelli a solid platform to build a healthy lead, which the Monegasque increased and then held to the end of the one-hour race.
There was satisfaction for the Lamborghini Blancpain Reiter team as they claimed a fine second place this afternoon. After claiming pole position, Slovakian driver Stefan Rosina led for the first 12 laps of the race, fending off intense pressure from Vanthoor. Rosina then handed the Lamborghini over to Peter Kox at the halfway mark in 3rd position. The experienced Dutchman hunted down the then 2nd placed #12 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra of Niki Mayr-Melnhof and quickly dispatched the Austrian with a well-judged move on lap 22.
Mayr-Melhhof, who shares with the rapid German - René Rast, held on to 3rd place in the PRO Cup class fighting off a marauding pack of Andreas Zuber (Sebastien Loeb Racing McLaren MP4-12C), Edward Sandström (Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS Ultra) and Alon Day (HTP Gravity Charouz Mercedes SLS AMG GT3) in an entertaining four-way battle for points positions.
In the PRO AM class there were also fine performances through the field but the HTP Gravity Charouz Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 entry of Sergei Afanasiev and Andreas Simonsen led the class from start to finish to cap a magnificent weekend so far for the team.
Indeed, Afanasiev had gone wheel-to-wheel with the overall leader, Stefan Rosina, at the start but lost out despite a spirited attempt at Turn 1. The impressive Russian then completed his stint, handing over to Swedish team mate, Simonsen, who brought the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 home in a fine 6th overall.
Claiming 2nd place in the PRO Am Cup class was the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Filip Salaquarda and Fabio Onidi. In a reversal of their poor luck at Nogaro three weeks ago when they were forced to withdraw after a qualifying incident, the Italian team took their first points of the season after an action packed opening stint by former GP2 racer, Onidi. Third in PRO-AM was the Grasser Racing Lamborghini LP560 driven by Dominik Baumann and Hari Proczyk.
Making it a double delight for the HTP Gravity Charouz team today was Jan Stovicek and Petr Charouz, who took the Gentlemen Trophy class honours. Despite twice having to deal with an errant door, which opened unexpectedly on track, the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 took the class win after main rivals, Duda Rosa and Paolo Bonifacio, in a Seyffarth entered Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, retired early in the race.
With Vanthoor taking a very popular home victory today, a large crowd is expected tomorrow for Round 2 of the 2013 FIA GT Series at Circuit Zolder. The Main Race starts at 14.15cet tomorrow afternoon.
