Vita4One to make FIA GT Series debut, Karun Chandhok to driveThe Vita4One Racing squad will make its FIA GT Series debut this weekend at Navarra with a driver line-up including former grand prix driver Karun Chandhok.
Vita4One was a frontrunner in the final iteration of the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 with its fleet of BMW Z4s (pictured), but its attempts to rejoin the championship in its latest incarnation were previously thwarted by a lack of finance.
Now, team boss Michael Bartels has put together a deal for Chandhok and Yelmer Buurman to drive a solo Vita4One entry at Navarra and, potentially, the final round of the series on the streets of Baku in Azerbaijan.
FIA GT1 poredak dva dana prije utrke u Španjolskoj Navarri:
Pro
1. Laurens Vanthoor, Stephane Ortelli, 94
2. Frank Stippler, Edward Sandstrom, 75
3. Rene Rast, Niki Mayr-Melnhof, 63
1. Belgian Audi Club Team WRT - 120
2. Sebastien Loeb Racing - 84
3. BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil - 78
Pro-am
1. Sergey Afanasiev, Andreas Simonsen, 96
2. Dominik Baumann, Hari Proczyk, 88
3. Carlos Viera, Cesar Campanico, 59
1. HTP Gravity Charouz - 113
2. Nissan GT Academy Team RJN - 107
3. Rodrive Competicoes - 73
Highlights - Slovakiaring, round 4, FIA GT Series
(na 9.55 počinje utrka)
GT Academy Team Wins Two World ChampionshipsDespite a rather topsy-turvy six hours at the Nürburgring, Lucas Ordoñez has claimed the Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am driver title and with it the teams’ championship for Nissan GT Academy Team RJN.
An incident-packed race saw the Nissan team’s nearest challengers, the AF Corse Ferrari, eliminated early in the race, but the GT-Rs didn’t have it all their own way either. Numerous visits to the pit soon added up and eventually both cars finished more than 20 laps down on the class leaders.
For a time it looked like the title was in Alex Buncombe’s pocket as he lead Pro-Am overall – and co-driver Jann Mardenborough (on double-duty with British F3) was busy setting laptimes that would embarrass the Pro cars, with a 1’57.106 being the fastest lap in class by a good margin.
Both cars endured numerous incidents that eventually left them 8th and 9th in class, but it was the all-gamer car of Ordoñez, Reip and Pyzera that took the important points that gave Lucas the drivers’ title – with Peter taking 3rd, just a point from 2nd in his first season racing GT3s.
Highlights - 1000 km Nurburgring, round 5, Blancpain Endurance Series