Ekris Sweeps GT4 Series at Red Bull Ring

Ricardo van der Ende and Max Koebolt swept the GT4 European Series Northern Cup weekend at the Red Bull Ring as the Ekris Motorsport drivers took their second win of the season on Sunday morning.

Driving the Ekris M4 GT4, the pair had an impressive showing in the sixth round of the season to finish ahead of Jerome Demay and Denis Dupont in the Street Art Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 by 18 seconds.

“This is really great!” commented van der Ende. “We made some setup changes after Brands Hatch and the car worked extremely well from the moment it rolled from the transporter.

“Winning twice, was something we really didn’t expect and is unbelievable. It looks like it will be our year. We are perhaps not the fastest, but right now we are the best!”

Koebolt came in to the pit lane in second and van der Ende started his stint having held onto the position, but soon overtook Demay in the race-winning move at Turn 3.

Demay lost another position to the RYS Team KTM of Reinhard Kofler, but the Austrian was given a drive-through and dropped down the order again.

After 30 laps, Demay crossed the line to take second place overall, almost a second ahead of the third-placed RYS Team Kiska KTM X-Bow GT4 of Lennart Marioneck and Gottfried Pilz.

The Street Art Aston Martin took the lead at the start of the race by passing polesitter Arne Hoffmeister, and initially extended his advantage while a KTM was pressuring the Ekris M4 GT4. 

Eduard Anton finished fourth overall and won the Am class, despite a spin early on in the race for the Sofia Car Motorsport driver.