+ Second victory of the season for Elite closes Silver title fight up
+ Trouble for Schubert opens the door for Team Speedcar to score in Pro-Am
+ Brunnhagens win as W&S suffers in Am
+ Result: Race 1, Zandvoort
Charlie Hart and McKenzy Cresswell scored a highly valuable second win of the season in the opening race at Zandvoort, with the result dramatically closing up the Silver title fight.
The Elite McLaren pair ran second for most of the race and duly took second on the road behind the sister Artura shared by Yani Stevenheydens and Henry Joslyn. However, a time penalty for speeding in the pits cost them a dream win on their debut as a pairing, instead handing the result to Hart and Cresswell. With Cedric Fuchs and Enrico Förderer just 10th, there’s now just seven points between the top two.
Victor Bouveng and Joakim Walde could have secured the Pro-Am title today but a tough race to ninth means that will have to wait. Instead, Viny Beltramelli and Sacha Bottemanne claimed victory for Team Speedcar ahead of Elite’s Charlie Robertson and Ravi Ramyead. The Am class has also tightened, with Christoffer and Mikael Brunnhagen taking a second win after trouble for the rival W&S Porsche.
Elite scores big as Schnitzelalm struggles
Aside from winning the race, Hart and Cresswell’s result could prove a key one in this year’s title race as points leaders Fuchs and Förderer suffered their worst result of the season so far.
Having never raced at this track before, the #111 Mercedes-AMG crew could only manage a single point for 10th place, leading to a big swing in the standings.
Hart lined the #78 McLaren up in third and held the spot at the start as Gregory Guilvert led away in the #8 Team Speedcar Audi ahead of Yani Stevenheydens in the #77 Elite Artura. Guilvert pushed hard but was suffering from high tyre pressures that limited his Audi’s grip, allowing both McLarens to pass him during the opening quarter of the race.
From there, Stevenheydens and Hart pulled clear and the result looked to be heading the way of the #77 before a penalty for speeding in the pits during its mandatory stop undid the drivers’ hopes. While Joslyn rejoined in the lead, the extra 10 seconds on his race time would drop him to third, allowing Cresswell to shadow him to the flag and take full points.
Mees Houben and Lachlan Evennett scored a superb second after a controlled drive in their Speedy Motorsport GR Supra. Houben also found a way past Guilvert to grab third before Evennett kept things clean to secure the result, finishing close enough to Joslyn to leapfrog a place in the revised result.
Benjamin Lariche and Robert Consani were fourth in the #1 Team Speedcar Audi ahead of Roméo Leurs and Roberto Faria’s Mirage Racing GR Supra. Guilvert and Paul Petit should really have scored strong points but instead their race ended in the gravel after their Audi dramatically broke a wheel.
Bouveng and Walde wait as Team Speedcar strikes
It initially seemed that penalties would also prove decisive in Pro-Am, but Beltramelli and Bottemanne had one overturned to score their Pro-Am win.
It looked like Bouveng and Walde were on for another victory across the first half as Bouveng grabbed the lead over a dramatic opening few laps before then holding off both Beltramelli and the Nova Porsche of Edvin Hellsten to pit for Walde.
However, things changed after the stops, with Walde playing it safe and losing out to Bottemanne, Ramyead – who had taken over from Robertson in fourth – and Nilsson, who was in for Hellsten in the Porsche. A late spin compounded things for the Schubert car, dropping Walde to ninth at the flag.
Up front Ramyead attacked Bottemanne, with the Audi’s strong defence earning it a time penalty. Bottemanne raced on and took the flag first, with the penalty then dropping the car to fifth. However, a post-race appeal overturned this, reinstating he and Beltramelli as the class winners.
Ramyead and Robertson were second, while Tim Horrell and Alon Gabbay fought through to score a podium late on ahead of Nilsson and Joachim Bölting/Hendrik Still’s Porsche.
The Am contest was ended early when Max Kronberg had to pit the #30 Porsche with a brake problem and lost a lap. A further penalty for pitlane speeding left he and Daniel Blickle well off the pace of the Brunnhagens, who cruised to their second win of the year.
The second GT4 European Series race is scheduled for 11:35.
