Allied Racing driver duo Jan Kasperlik and Bastian Buus took the overall and Pro-Am race win in the second GT4 European Series race at the Nürburgring this morning. AGS Events’ Theo Nouet and Valentin Hasse-Clot won the Silver Cup, while SRT’s Bob Herber scored another win in the Am class.
The #22 Allied Racing Porsche with Bastian Buus behind the wheel started the 60-minute race from pole position, but it was teammate Nicolaj Møller-Madsen in the #21 Allied Racing Porsche who had the best start.
From fifth on the grid, the Møller-Madsen moved into second before the first corner, but was unable to pass his teammate. The two Porsches raced side by side for the first couple of corners, but by turn 6 Møller-Madsen had found a way by his young compatriot.
The two Allied Racing Porsches led the field and controlled the race, while Silver Cup driver Valentin Hasse-Clot in the #27 AGS Events Aston Martin settled into third place, ahead of Gabriele Piana in the #111 Rn Vision STS BMW. Yesterday’s race winner, the #15 NM Racing Team Mercedes-AMG, was tapped into a spin by the #66 CMR Toyota on the opening lap.
With the two Danes battling for the lead, Hasse-Clot was able to close the gap to the Allied Racing cars. The French driver, being comfortable with the Silver Cup lead, decided not to launch an attack on the Porsches.
Ten minutes Gilles Vannelet in the #89 AGS Events Aston Martin hit the #17 V8 Racing Chevrolet Camaro of Thijmen Nabuurs, sending the Dutchman into the gravel trap at turn 1. With the Camaro in the gravel race control issued a Full Course Yellow, followed by a brief safety car. Nabuurs was out of the race, Vannelet was given a drive through for the incident.
As the safety car pulled in, Møller-Madsen and Buus held onto their positions, with Hasse-Clot one second behind them in third place. They remained in that order until the pit window opened after 25 minutes.
After completing 14 laps Møller-Madsen came into the pits to hand over the Porsche to Jörg Viebahn. Buus stayed out for another lap, before coming in for his mandatory pit stop. A fast pit stop, making use of the one-second joker, resulted in the #22 Allied Racing Porsche returning in front of the #21 sister car.
Theo Nouet took over from Valentin Hasse-Clot and shortly after he had taken the #27 AGS Events Aston Martin back to the track he was battling with Jörg Viebahn. Into turn 3 Nouet was able to pass the German and take second place overall.
Kasperlik was able to maintain his momentum and never had to watch his mirrors to see where Nouet was. After 27 laps, he crossed the line and scored the #22 Porsche’s third consecutive victory, the first overall win for a Pro-Am duo in the 2020 season.
Finishing second overall and first in the Silver Cup was AGS Events’ Theo Nouet, at 2.173s from Kasperlik, with Stéphane Lémeret securing CMR’s second podium finish of the weekend in the #8 Toyota. Dörr Motorsport claimed the final podium position in the Silver Cup, after Aleksey Sizov passed the #111 RN Vision STS BMW of Bas Schouten just ten minutes from the end of the race.
In Pro-Am, Ivan Jacoma and Joel Camathias claimed second place behind outright race winners Bastian Buus and Jan Kasperlik. The Centri Porsche Ticino duo has been third for most of the race, but ultimately finished second ahead of Jörg Viebahn and Nicolaj Møller-Madsen. Jacoma overtook Jörg Viebahn on the penultimate lap of the race.
Bob Herber in the #31 SRT Mercedes-AMG took another race win in the Am class, despite receiving a one-second stop-go penalty for a short pit stop. The penalty initially promoted the #13 Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport BMW to the lead, but Ibrahim Okyay also had to come in to serve a drive through. Behind Herber, teammates Jean-Luc Behets and Johan Vannerum claimed second place, with Nicolas Gomar and Gilles Vannelet taking third place in the end.
DRIVER QUOTES
Bastian Buus, #22 Allied Racing Porsche: “We had great speed overall. It was a race where we had to think about the tactics instead of just going fast. It didn’t make sense to race Nicolaj as that could cost time and places in the end. I stayed behind him and saved the tires for Jan, so he would have a better half of the race. We gained a place in the pit stop, Jan had the best car and we ended up with a win.”
Jan Kasperlik, #22 Allied Racing Porsche: “It was quite good. We had two good cars in the first half of the race. Bastian did a great job, he handed over the car in P2. We had a perfect pit stop, we used the joker and that is exactly what we gained over the Aston Martin. We had half a second lead and after the pit stops, we led by 1.5 seconds. And then I just had to finish. The first overall win for us!”
Valentin Hasse-Clot, #27 AGS Events Aston Martin: “This was good. Yesterday was just racing; we couldn’t do anything about it. We knew we had a pretty good car. Yesterday we saw turn 1 was a bit dangerous, so I stayed on the inside and then I had to pull away from the opponents and to keep the tires for Theo. I didn’t want to fight with the cars in front of me, as my real target was behind me.”
Theo Nouet, #27 AGS Events Aston Martin: “I had the Porsche in front of me. It was not in the same category, so I didn’t have to fight with it. I just followed him and brought the car to the end in first place. So that’s good!”
Source. SRO Motorsports Group
Comments
