Michele Beretta and Luca Stolz won the Silver Cup class for Grasser Racing Team at the first part of what could be called the âBritish Blancpain GT tourâ, the sprint race at the former F1 GP track at Brands Hatch.
Even after facing some technical problems during the qualifying race on Sunday midday, which forced Beretta to start the race from P23, he managed to impressively chase through the field.
The great work of the whole Grasser team helped a lot: The mechanics managed to change the whole gearbox and clutch unit of the Lamborghini HuracĂĄn GT3 in less than two hours during the break between the two races.
âAfterwards, I could really go for itâ, Beretta was ever so happy.Â
âEven with Brands Hatch being a track where overtaking is quite difficult, I managed to make good use of my fresh tyres, gain quite a few positions and then hand over the car to my teammate Luca in twelfth position.â
Stolz then also did a good job, âbut while Michele could make use of the new tyres in the beginning, I had to face the problem of fighting against people with a lot newer rubber towards the end of my stint. In the end I was driving quite defensively. My aim was to defend the positions we had already gained.
So in the end we reached tenth place in the overall classification and won the Silver Cup, which for sure is not too bad. Unfortunately the Lamborghini is still lacking a bit of pace. Nevertheless we are still optimistic for the endurance race at Silverstone the next weekend. But before I really want to compliment the GRT Grasser Racing Team for the great work of their mechanics.âÂ
Beretta absolutely agrees: âIn general this was a great result for us, thanks again to the whole team for their great work. Now we are going even more optimistic into the next Blancpain endurance race at Silverstone.â
Things did not go so well for the other two cars, even as Mirko Bortolotti managed to put his car in P6 in qualifying with an absolute âdream lapâ. âThis fantastic lap should have been worth much moreâ, mentioned team principal Gottfried Grasser. âThat it didn´t is a clear sign that our BoP rating still is not completely correct.âÂ
P7 in the qualifying race meant a start from the fourth row of the grid for Nicolas Pohler, who got away quite well and kept the car safely within the Top Ten before bad luck hit in form of a drive-through penalty. A competitor had mentioned to the stewards that the Grasser car had not been completely down to the ground again when the 3-minute-board came up.
âWe were on good course to a Top Five finishâ, Pohler was really upset about the harsh punishment. âI still can´t understand why we got a drive-through. I could understand getting a fine, okay, but as the reason for the penalty happened before the start of the race, I think it´s really hard to punish the drivers. For sure it was not an easy weekend, but as you say, we win together, we lose together. Thanks anyway to the guys of GRT and Lamborghini!âÂ
Mirko Bortolotti could not improve thing a lot in the end, especially as the team in the meantime had received a second drive through penalty, this time for speeding in the pitlane. This meant that car number 63 dropped back to 28th position for some time, one lap behind the leader.
During a safety-car-period towards the end, the Italian got stuck between two fighting couples of cars, one for P1, one for P3, and after the lights went green again, he was at least able to show that he could more or less follow the speed of the top cars: âBut P24, were we finally ended up, is of course nothing we can be content of.
But when I got into the car, we were already way too far behind with the bad luck and the penalties. For sure we deserved a lot more this weekend â but that´s racing. Up to the next one ahead at Silverstone now!â
Also for Jeroen Bleekemolen and Stefan Rosina points would have been in reach, if the Slovakian hadn´t got himself in trouble as well with a drive-trough for speeding in the pitlane. So in the end the two finished in P 17, even after Bleekemolen had climbed up a few positions from 16th  on the grid before, getting close to the Top Ten for some time.
“For sure we lost a few chances this weekend also due to the penaltiesâ, Gottfried Geasser has to admit.
âThe positive thing of course was the win of our youngsters and especially the performance of Michele Beretta in the main race, where he really did a fantastic job. But the general problem he does not see solved for the moment.
âWe are just not really competitive in the Blancpain Series at the moment due to the BoP. We are the fastest 2015 car, we are the fastest Lamborghinis, but that does not help a lot if the Mercedes and the Audis up front are so far ahead. We just can´t qualify really at the front, and even in race trim, where it is slightly better, we are missing two or three tenths.
We have to hope that we soon get treated a bit more friendly â or that the people in front get a little bit of a handicap. Otherwise we will also face some troubles this weekend at Silverstone. Even if a lot more things can happen during an endurance race and you can make up more ground by good pitstops and clever strategy.
