Mission accomplished: Enzo Ide and the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT are the 2016 Champions of the Blancpain Sprint Cup! The Belgian squad managed to add two more titles to its collection thanks, as things in the last and decisive round at Barcelona went smoothly and according to the plans. Enzo Ide, associated this time with Robin Frijns, mastered everything with great temper, signing another win in the Qualifying Race and a podium finish in the Main Race, securing thus the Drivers’ title. More heavy points came with Stevens-Rast, fifth in the first race, and Vervisch-L.Vanthoor, fourth in the Main race, which helped ensuring the Teams’ honors. With this great result, the Blancpain GT Series season is now over, but the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT has still some commitments ahead in 2016…
Enzo Ide was clearly relieved and happy after winning the title, but still dizzy: “It’s great to win my first major title, but frankly, I am unable to realize.. I think it will take a couple of days, and some beers, before being totally aware what it means to me…”
Team Principal Vincent Vosse was no less enthused: “We are delighted to bring Enzo to the title. He is a great guy and has been part of our family since the beginning. What he has achieved this year, in what was probably the most competitive Sprint Cup season ever, is simply fantastic. Here in Barcelona, in the decisive weekend, he has again put a faultless performance, and so have the entire team and the pit crews. It was a job well done. We conquer two titles and nearly missed the Teams’ one in the overall Blancpain GT Series. I am proud of the result. It hasn’t been an easy season, there have been some disappointments, but these two titles are really a great and meaningful satisfaction.”
At the start of the weekend, the free practice sessions proved how close the competition was going to be. In qualifying, Frijns placed car #33 in P3, only 4 tenths behind the pole, being the best-placed of the team, ahead of car #28 in P7 and car #4 in P10. The Dutchman had a clear view on what to do in the Qualifying race: “We need to survive the start without any damage.”
The plan was implemented beyond expectations, as Robin could find a clear spot and take the lead immediately, with direct rivals having more trouble. Unfortunately, the first lap action would be fatal for car #4 as Dries Vanthoor got tangled in a race incident with Winkelhock which left both cars out of the race.
Frijns managed to build a good advantage, giving the car to Ide with 8.5 seconds of gap and the Belgian, once again, was faultless in completing the job and crossing the line as victor for the fourth time this year. “It was the easiest stint of the year”, admitted Enzo, “thanks to the great job done by Robin and this puts us in a good position for the Main race.” Frijns, on his side, reckoned: “I found a gap at the start and everything went smoothly.”
It was, instead, a frustrating race for car #1: Fred Vervisch and Laurens Vanthoor had achieved a perfect race, with Laurens having P2 in sight in the closing minutes but a contact with Stockinger was severely sanctioned with a 30-second penalty, putting the car in P13, right ahead of Leonard-Meadows and Jimenez-Baptista. Stevens-Rast took an excellent fifth in the #28.
The Main race saw an excellent start of Ide, in second position, wisely leaving the third spot to the threatening Bentley he had behind. Frijns retook second in his stint but was fiercely attacked by the Bentley in the closing minutes and took a similar conservative approach, salvaging a wonderful podium finish.
Laurens Vanthoor and Frederic Vervisch brought car #1 to an excellent 4th position, after a solid race, with Müller-Dries vanthoor finishing in P14 and Stevens-Rast in P18, after running in fifth in the first part but paying with a drive-through a contact with one of the Lambos. Leonard-Meadows finished in P20 after a contact with the car of Jimenez-Baptista, which could not finish the race.
With the Blancpain GT Series season now over, the team’s attention is focusing on the
Blancpain Sprint Series - Round 5 - Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain 1st-2nd October 2016
Qualifying Race results:
1. Frijns-Ide (Audi R8 LMS) 33 laps2. Pohler-Bortolotti (Lambo Huracán) +12s9263. Vautier-Rosenqvist (Mercedes AMG) +17s4964. Soulet-Soucek (Bentley continental) +18s4625. Stevens-Rast (Audi R8 LMS) +19s71913. Vervisch-L.Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS) +42s26714. Leonard-Meadows (Audi R8 LMS) +44s69715. Baptista-Jimenez (Audi R8 LMS) +48s429DNF D.Vanthoor-Müller (Audi R8 LMS) 0 laps (race incident)
Main Race Race results:
1. Vautier-Rosenqvist (Mercedes AMG) 33 laps2. Soulet-Soucek (Bentley Continental) + 7s2293. Ide-Frijns (Audi R8 LMS) + 7s6284. Vervisch-L.Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS) + 8s0715. Bortolotti-Pohler (Lambo Huracán) + 8s58714. Müller-D.Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS) +44s55118. Stevens-Rast (Audi R8 LMS) +56s60620. Leonard-Meadows (Audi R8 LMS) +1m00s028DNF Baptista-Jimenez (Audi R8 LMS) 27 laps (race incident)
Sprint Cup Final Drivers’ standings (Pro) after Round 5 of 5:1. Ide 102 points2. Mies 793. Baumann-Buhk 674. Schneider-Szymkowiak 59
