Frustrating weekend for G-Drive Racing in the Blancpain Sprint at Brands Hatch

After the excellent start of the season at Nogaro, G-Drive Racing hoped for good results in the second round of the Blancpain Sprint Series at Brands Hatch, but things did not go in the right direction on the legendary British track.

Qualified in P11, the team had shortly missed the Q3 threshold, but was hopeful for the first race of Sunday morning. Unfortunately, Stéphane Ortelli had a contact with the Mercedes of Afansiev at the very start of the Qualifying Race, which resulted in a broken suspension and retirement.

In the Main Race, the car climbed up positions in the hands of Roman Rusinov, who was racing his first Blancpain Sprint Series race of the season. The Russian did some superb overtakes, notably on Salaquarda. Despite good pace in the two stints of the race, the G-Drive Racing Audi R8 could not do better than 13th, given its start position at the back of the grid.

The Blancpain Sprint Series’ third round will take place 5-6 July at Zandvoort, the Netherlands, where Roman and Stéphane will definitely look for revenge!

Roman Rusinov: “We are disappointed but that’s racing. The accident at the start of Race 1 is the kind of thing that can happen. We had good pace in the Main Race but we started from the back and there was a lot of traffic, in a track where overtaking is difficult. Time now to look forward at the next race in Zandvoort.”

Stéphane Ortelli: “We had a difficult qualifying but we were hopeful for the races. Unfortunately, I did a mistake at the start, hitting one of the Mercedes. In the Main Race, we catched up a bit. In the final stint, I had good pace and was third-fastest among the Audis, which proves that we are competitive. We lost a good opportunity to score good points, but we are as determined as ever for the next race.”

Vincent Vosse, Team Principal: “Stéphane and Roman were not lucky today, but they have the means to be at the forefront as from the next race. Brands Hatch proved how competitive is the championship this year and we will work even harder to be among the front-runners.”

G-Drive Racing