Laurens Vanthoor even stronger in the lead of the series in Slovakia

This weekend, Slovakia was the scene of fourth round of the FIA GT Series. Championship leader Laurens Vanthoor and his team mate Stéphane Ortelli again proved to be lightening on Slovakian ground.

#11 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra: Stéphane Ortelli, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: XPB Images

After a six week break, the most impressive European Sprint series for GT cars, came to Slovakia for the fourth meeting out of six weekends. Laurens Vanthoor did not found his regular car in Slowakia as his team, WRT Audi, reverted its trio of R8s to 2012 specification.

Laurens Vanthoor: "The move followed the failure of the FIA to alter the Balance of Performance in the wake of the Spa 24 Hours Blancpain Endurance Series round, in which the Audis were off the pace by more than a second a lap. Of course we hope that we again will be competitive."

Audi indeed put down a strong performance this weekend, with a fine second place for Laurens Vanthoor and Stéphane Ortelli in the Pro Cup during the qualifying race.

Laurens Vanthoor: "Of course this is a fine result as the winner of the race is not in competition for the championship anymore. We again score precious points and that's important if we want to win the 2013 title."

The Championship Race started in a perfect way, with a impressive start from Ortelli, but the driver from Monaco lost his advantage due to a drive through penalty.

Stéphane Ortelli: "I made a small mistake at the start, by crossing the start line just in front of pole man Sébastien Loeb. I couldn't see him in my mirrors right before the start, so I thought he was still in front of me."

Laurens Vanthoor: "Those things can happen… I also make mistakes. After the pit stop, I had tremendous fun in the car and fought back to second in the standings of the Pro Class. As I managed to get by our most important contender for the title in the penultimate lap, we still do a fantastic affair in the standings. I really look forward to the two remaining rounds and I hope to finish the season on a high!"

Laurens Vanthoor and Stéphane Ortelli now have a 19-points lead, before heading to Spain at the end of September.

Laurens Vanthoor now starts to prepare his 3rd 24-hour race of the season, his home race in Zolder. Vanthoor, defending champion, will of course try to win the race a second consecutive time!

Laurens Vanthoor