2015 Blancpain Sprint Series Zolder - main race
The historic Zolder track was the place of the third round of the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series and it was a perfect racing weekend with ideal (sometimes too hot) weather.
Over 20 drivers on the 4.01-kilometer-long track ensured that spectators would have a very pleasant Sunday afternoon watching an hour-long race. The pole position was won by Laurens Vanthoorn for Audi while Robin Frijns was in the drivers seat. Marco Seefried in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 came second and at the third place was the Bentley Continental GT3 with Vincent Abril behind the wheel.
The rolling start of the race at 15:15 CET was a messy affair for most of the drivers. Robin Frijns jumped first and the Bentley from third started strong moving to second. However, the green Ferrari from second place went to the right of the track and when the first corner approached, the Ferrari of Rinaldi Racing moved to the left getting in the way of the Bentley.
In a controversial move, the Bentley clipped the left rear of the Ferrari sending it in to gravel in the first corner of the first lap. That incident was used by BMW Z4 GT3 to move to second position behind the Audi. The third was another R8 by Belgian Audi Team and the infamous Bentley was fourth.
In the first 15 minutes of the race, the most interesting battle was fought between Atila Abreu in BMW on second and Christopher Mies in Audi on the third. Mies was just centimeters behind the BMW, constantly putting pressure on Abreu and even hitting his car from the rear a few times.
After a few laps, Mies managed to make a smart move and pass the BMW to claim the second place. In the meanwhile, Robin Frijns had long moved to the first place. However, Mies was soon punished with a drive- through penalty for jumping at the start and came back in the race on disappointing 13th place.
The pit window for changing drivers was opened in the middle of the race as a result of which the cars could come to pits for a driver change. Most of the drivers went to pits immediately and Bentley from the third went to the second position. The BMW from second went to third because of a slower pit stop.
The Audi on the first was very far ahead managing over 14 seconds advantage but soon Vanthoorn was in the drivers seat. As a race moved to the end, there wasn’t any real threat to first places. Vanthoorn kept his lead as well as BMW and Bentley behind him.
So after the 39 laps on the famous Zolder track, Audi’s duo of Vanthoorn/Frijns won the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series Zolder event. For full results click HERE
