Brands-Hatch: Laurens Vanthoor wanted more!
The main race ended with a 4th spot after a weekend that did not bring about all the expectations.
Photo by: Daniel James Smith
Brands-Hatch made a deep impression on Laurens Vanthoor. In the past the Belgian driver had competed on the Indy version of the track, but this weekend the Blancpain Sprint Series enjoyed its second weekend of the year on the legendary F1 Brands Hatch racetrack. “Impressive, that is why we race”, is how Vanthoor summed up his feeling on British soil. The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi driver proved his admiration for the track by clinching pole position on Saturday. The main race ended with a 4th spot after a weekend that did not bring about all the expectations.
The qualifying session for the Blancpain Sprint Series meeting at Brands Hatch was the final chapter of an action-packed first day on the legendary British circuit. The very close outcome of the qualifying once again proved the high level of this European competition. And it was not an easy one for Laurens Vanthoor.
Laurens Vanthoor: “The final part of qualifying was a bit problematic for me. During my first two flying laps I made a mistake on each of the laps, so I had only one chance left. I knew that if you push hard on this track, take many risks, you can go very quickly. So it was a real all or nothing effort and luckily it worked out for me.”
The qualifying race started from pole and Cesar Ramos and Laurens Vanthoor were both eager to perform well, with a perfect opening half hour by the Belgian driver. But a race incident dropped the Belgian-Brazilian pair back into 6th. Laurens was extremely bitter after the race:
Laurens Vanthoor: “Disappointed... I had a good first stint and came in on P1 at the pitstop. Unfortunately something went wrong and we dropped down to P6.”
The Audi pairing drove a good Championship race, with a fourth spot as the final result.
Laurens Vanthoor: “We finished the main race on P4. It’s not what we had hoped for, but we score good points. I’m very happy to have experienced this awesome track and I look forward to Zandvoort, another one of those legendary race venues.”
Laurens Vanthoor
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