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Racing Roundup

Weekly Racing Roundup (4.9.18)

GT4 European Series season kicks off, British GT produces result for shortened race last week…

Photo: GT4 European Series

Phoenix, HHC Take GT4 European Series Wins at Zolder

Phoenix Racing and HHC Motorsport won the opening two GT4 European Series races of the season at Zolder at the weekend with a penalty in Race 2 denying Phoenix’s Nicolaj Moller Madsen and Milan Dontje from sweeping the event.

The No. 5 Audi R8 LMS GT4 led the entirety of Saturday’s first race, which included two safety car periods, while winning Sunday’s race on track only to be hit with a post-race penalty.

Moller Madsen passed Stuart Middleton, driving the HHC Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4, for the lead in the final minute of Race 2. 

He was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release just before the end of the race, which was converted into a post-race penalty of 31 seconds, dropping the Audi to fifth overall.

Schwede Motorsport and Racing One took the Pro-Am Cup victories while Selleslagh Racing Team and TFT Racing secured the Am class honors.

RESULTS: Race 1; Race 2

Photo: Jakob Ebrey/SRO

Shortened British GT Race to Count Towards Standings; Result Announced

Full points and a result have been awarded for the second British GT Championship race at Oulton Park last Monday, which had been cancelled due to weather conditions.

The race was red-flagged after four laps of the scheduled 60 minutes were run behind the safety car, and the series originally planned not to award points or produce a result from the race.

However, championship stewards have since decided to overturn this decision, with the championship regulations classifying a race as a minimum of two laps.

Barwell Motorsport’s Phil Keen and Jon Minshaw have therefore won the race while the pair of TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3s completed the podium.

Nick Jones and Scott Malvern claimed the GT4 class honors in their Team Parker Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT4.

RESULTS: Oulton Park Race 2 

News & Notes 

***KCMG has signed Super GT regular Tsugio Matsuda and GT Academy winner Florian Strauss among its two-car Blancpain GT Series Asia entry with the new-for-2018 Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3. Matsuda will enter the first two races before he is replaced by Alexandre Imperatori, co-driving with Yukinori Taniguchi, while the other car will be driven by Strauss and Edoardo Liberati.

***The Mercedes-AMG GT4 will make its first appearance in the Blancpain GT Series Asia this year with a new team, iRace.Win. The car will be driven by Ringo Chong, who finished fourth in the GT4 standings last year, and Asian sports car series regular Akihiro Asai.

***The GT4 European Series will feature the Pirelli Junior Cup again this season, open to all Bronze and Silver-rated drivers born after Jan. 1, 1993. Points are awarded based on qualifying times and the average of each driver’s five fastest race lap times, with each event’s winner receiving a free set of tires for use at the next event.

***ARC Bratislava will enter the International GT Open with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Miroslav Konopka and Konstantins Calko while RS Racing has announced a debut program in the series with a Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Daniele Di Amato and Andrea Montermini.

***Krypton Motorsport, meanwhile, will enter a Mercedes-AMG GT3 for Mario Cordoni and Marco Zanuttini in the first two GT Open rounds. The team is currently Mercedes’ only Italian customer outfit.

***This weekend sees the start of the ADAC GT Masters, Blancpain GT Series Asia, International GT Open and Michelin Le Mans Cup seasons while Australian GT heads to The Bend Motorsport Park for the newly-built circuit’s first competitive event.

***Twenty-nine cars will take part in the Le Mans Cup opener at Paul Ricard, with 22 LMP3 cars joined by seven GT3 entries. The field includes three different LMP3 manufacturers: Ligier, Norma and Ginetta. Click here for the entry list.

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.

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