Weekend Racing Roundup, 5.25

Memorial Day weekend in the US and Pentecost weekend in Europe, but that didn’t stop teams from competing all over the world. GT cars were racing at Silverstone, Monaco, Zandvoort and Phillip Island in a number of international series. Check out what happened in this week’s Weekend Racing Roundup.

Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe
Round two of the 2015 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe series was held at the Silverstone circuit and it was 19-year-old Finnish driver Patrick Kujala who dominated the weekend again.

Starting race 1 from pole position the Bonaldi Motorsport driver built up an advantage over his pursuers, but in traffic the Raton Racing Lamborghini of Edoardo Liberati and Patric Niederhauser almost closed the gap. Kujala finished 2.5 seconds clear of his rivals.

The weather conditions at Silverstone meant the second race was more difficult for the drivers, but even the rain was unable to stop Kujala. The Finnish driver made no mistake and finished ten seconds clear of his nearest rivals, the Antonelli Motorsport Huracán of Zampieri and Mavlanov.

Race 1 – 1. Bonaldi Motorsport (Kujala), 2. Raton Racing (Liberati/Niederhauser), 3. Team Lazarus (Campana/Crestani).

Race 2 – 1. Bonaldi Motorsport (Kujala), 2. Antonelli Motorsport (Zampieri/Mavlanov), 3. Team Lazarus (Campana/Crestani).

GT4 European Series
The KTM X-Bow GTR GT4 claimed a double victory on its debut raceweekend in the GT4 European Series at Zandvoort. On Saturday Team ZaWotec driver Sascha Halek started from pole position, but ruined his chances when he stayed out on the track behind the safety car, while others made their mandatory stops.

Halek’s teammate Peter Ebner rejoined in last place, but was able to fight his way back to third place. Victory went to teammate Daniel Uckermann, ahead of reigning champions Ricardo van der Ende and Bernhard van Oranje.

Ebner and Halek didn’t make a mistake in the second race of the weekend and were unstoppable on their way to victory. The other teams competing at Zandvoort were unable to match the pace of the KTM and after 28 laps Ebner and Halek finished 17 seconds ahead of the two Camaro GT4s.

Race 1 – 1. ZaWotec (Uckermann) KTM, 2. Ekris Motorsport (Van der Ende/Van Oranje) BMW, 3. ZaWotec (Ebner/Halek) KTM,

Race 2 – 1. ZaWotec (Ebner/Halek) KTM, 2. V8 Racing (Beelen/Nooren) Chevrolet, 3. V8 Racing (Huisman/Braams) Chevrolet.

Mobil 1 Porsche Supercup
The Mobil1 Porsche Supercup drivers joined the F1 drivers on the streets of Monaco for a 16-lap race. Dutchman Jaap van Lagen, who had been drafted in on Monday before the event, started from pole position and held onto the lead into the first corner.

After a safety car period the gap between Van Lagen and the rest of the field had closed up, but Van Lagen’s rivals were unable to pass him and the Dutchman went on to win his first ever race in Monaco.

Race – 1. FACH AUTO TECH (Van Lagen), 2. Market Leader Team by Project 1 (Eng), 3. MOMO-Megatron Team PARTRAX (Barker).

Australian GT Championship
Jamec-Pem Racing drivers Christopher Mies and Greg Crick won the second round of the Australian GT Championship at Phillip Island with their Audi R8 LMS ultra. The Trass Family Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Jono Lester and Graeme Smyth started from pole and led in the final hour, until a late safety car ruined their chances.

Mies was a lap down but regained the lap behind the safety car and then took the race lead in the final minutes of the Phillip Island 101. It was Mies’ second victory in as many weeks, having won the Nürburgring 24 Hours last weekend.

Race – 1. Jamec-Pem Racing (Mies/Crick) Audi, 2. Darrel Lea (Quinn/Tander) McLaren, 3. Trass Family Motorsport (Lester/Smyth) Ferrari.

Other Series
At Rockingham (Corby, United Kingdom) Darren Nelson and Adam Carroll won all three races of the GT Cup weekend in their FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3. Next stop: Silverstone.

In Japan round three of the Super Taikyu Series at Sugo was won by the REAF REAL ESTATE KiiVA BMW Z4 GT3. After three hours it was almost 90 seconds clear of the second placed ARN Mercedes SLS AMG GT3.

Meanwhile over at the Red Bull Ring Fritz K. and his Porsche 997 GT3 RSR won the first race of the weekend in the DMV GTC championship, while Finnish driver Pertti Kuismanen and his Chrysler Viper GTS-R won race two.