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Australia

Back to the podium as the Team WRT takes 2nd at Silverstone

Fred Vervisch and the Vanthoor brothers took a close 2nd at Silverstone.

#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Laurens Vanthoor, Dries Vanthoor, Frederic Vervisch

#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Laurens Vanthoor, Dries Vanthoor, Frederic Vervisch

XPB Images

#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Laurens Vanthoor
#1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Laurens Vanthoor, Dries Vanthoor, Frederic Vervisch
Wolfgang Reip, Bentley; Laurens Vanthoor, Audi with Christian Kelders
#3 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS: Laurens Vanthoor
#28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Antonio Garcia, Nico Müller, Will Stevens
#28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Antonio Garcia, Nico Müller, Will Stevens
#28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Antonio Garcia, Nico Müller, Will Stevens
#28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Antonio Garcia, Nico Müller, Will Stevens
#28 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS: Antonio Garcia, Nico Müller, Will Stevens
Autograph session
Pirelli fan zone
Paddock atmosphere
Pitlane atmosphere

The second round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup brought a beautiful podium to the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, as Fred Vervisch and the Vanthoor brothers took a close 2nd at Silverstone. It was almost an unexpected result after a difficult qualifying for the Audis R8 LMS, made possible by an excellent race of the Belgian trio and a perfect first pit stop, which allowed the car to climb from 7th to 2nd. Car #28 also finished in the points, like in Monza, with Nico Müller-Antonio García-Will Stevens crossing the line in 9th. The other three cars of the team also finished the race, but had more difficulties in the heavy traffic on the British track.

Team Principal Vincent Vosse was satisfied but not entirely happy after the race: “It’s a good result and we are back on the podium in an Endurance race, which is what we were seeking”, he commented, “Car #1 did the almost perfect race and we finished very close from the winner. The pit stop strategy worked very well and that allowed to compensate for the qualifying, which wasn’t great.

For a moment, I was able to reduce the gap and thought I could catch him, but to pass him would have been impossible.

Laurens Vanthoor

The fact that that car signed the fastest race lap also proves that the performance was there. We managed to put another car in the top ten, and that also is positive, but once again the team result was not what we wanted, as the three other cars had a difficult race, because of a conjunction of factors, from poor qualifying to traffic and pit stop issues. We need to continue working in order to have more consistent results from all the cars.”

The Audis R8 LMS of the Belgian squad proved competitive in free practice and first qualifying sessions, but lost positions in the decisive Q3. Eventually, car #3 was the best-qualified with Albuquerque in P8, 1.1 second away from the pole. Car #1 was 11th fastest, with car #28 in P14 ahead of car #2 and car #4 in P38.

The race started with dry but chilly weather and the very initial laps were relatively quiet for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT troops. Fred Vervisch climbed some positions up to 8th, with Jimenez stabilizing in P10, Müller and Meadows running together in P12 and Kox in P29. Towards the end of the stint, Vervisch had a nice fight with Ortelli, gaining one position shortly after. “It was a tough stint, given our position on the grid”, commented Vervisch, “but I was glad to be able to climb up to 7th, and our strategy was very good.”

Car #1 was indeed among the very first to pit and a very quick stop put Dries Vanthoor in second, very close to the Mercedes of Jaafar. The young Belgian attacked and passed the leader in lap 37, but lost the lead one lap later as he got stuck behind some lapped cars. From there the gap stabilized around 4 seconds, also because Dries was on a fuel-saving strategy, given the lesser amount of fuel embarked in the short pit stop.

The second stint saw Leonard running in P7 and Baptista in P9, following other excellent pit stops, while García was in P15 and De Leener in P24. The second driver change saw much closer pit stop times among front-runners but again car #1 could gain a couple of seconds in the operation, and Laurens Vanthoor retook the track only 2.2 seconds behind the leading Mercedes. Still, the gap increased up to 5 seconds because of heavy track. The beginning of the third stint saw Stevens climbing up to P10, with Frijns running in P13, Albuquerque in P20 and Käffer in P24.

Fourty minutes to the end, in lap 68, a safety-car period re-opened the games. There were moments of doubt about the exact moment the safety-car would pull out but that did not interfere in the actual restart. In the remaining 21 minutes of race, Vanthoor tried everything he could to catch the Mercedes but the greater top speed of Buhk froze the positions. “For a moment, I was able to reduce the gap and thought I could catch him, but to pass him would have been impossible”, admitted Laurens. With Stevens gaining one more position (P9) there were more points for the team, with both Albuquerque (20th) and Käffer (23rd) fighting well in the final laps.

The next Blancpain Endurance Cup round will be the Paul Ricard 1000, to be raced on Saturday 25 June, partially at night.

Team WRT

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