Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini wins Qualifying Race
Hari Proczyk : “Keeping the Mercedes behind was not as easy as it might have looked."
Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk, at the wheel of the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini, took first place in the Qualifying Race for the Blancpain Sprint Series meeting at Brands Hatch. Proczyk took the lead after the pitstop and resisted pressure from #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes driver Maximilian Buhk to cross the line with a 0.488 advantage. Six seconds later the #0 BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil, driven by Cacá Bueno and Sergio Jimenez, took third, right in front of their team-mates Matheus Stumpf and Valdeno Brito. Silver Cup honours went to the #34 ROAL Motorsport BMW of Stefano Colombo and David Fumanelli, Pro-Am was won by the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi of Marc Basseng and Alessandro Latif.
The first part of the race was led by Laurens Vanthoor at the wheel of the #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi. The Belgian was chased by Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and Markus Winkelhock in the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi. During the pitstop period Alex Zanardi spun in Clark Curve, which led to an intervention of the safety car.
Proczyk took advantage of the situation to come out in the lead, from Mayr-Melnhof and Buhk, who had both passed Ramos with a quicker pitstop. Maximilian Buhk overtook the #6 Phoenix Racing Audi in Paddock Hill bend to take second and close the gap towards Proczyk, but taking was not on the cards. Behind the Audi of Mayr-Melnhof and Ramos were passed by a charging BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil duo, with the yellow-and-green BMWs finishing in 3rd and 4th.Hari Proczyk (#28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini): “Keeping the Mercedes behind was not as easy as it might have looked. He was faster through the quick corners, I managed to open up the gap on the main straights. Jeroen had done a perfect job during the first part of the race, the car was running well, and this race was a real pleasure for me.”
Maximilian Götz (#84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes): “At the start I was in front of the Audi of Vanthoor, but I left him enough room, just to be safe on the left side of the track. But still he made contact with the rear of my car, which meant I had to go wide. I lost two places in the process, but fortunately we had a good pitstop and Max was able to fight back to second after that.”
Cacá Bueno (#0 BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil): “This podium finish really means a lot to us. Last year, we had a really tough season, but this year everything is better. The car, the pitstops, everything. It feels very good to be able to fight for the first positions again, because that is what Sergio and I were used to when we were racing in South America. This podium is nice, but we will try to do better in the main race.”
Blancpain GT Series
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