Zolder Blancpain Sprint: Vanthoor and Frijns win again in main race
WRT Audi duo Laurens Vanthoor and Robin Frijns made it four wins in a row in the Blancpain Sprint Series with a dominant victory in the main race at Zolder
The Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Vanthoor and Frijns was only headed, as in the qualifying race yesterday, during the mid-race pitstop sequence on the way to a 10-second victory.
Life for Vanthoor and Frijns was made easier when the Rinaldi Ferrari
458 Italia that they had been expecting to mount a challenge went out of the race after Marco Seefried clipped the nose of the HTP Bentley driven by Vincent Abril at the first corner.
Frijns was able to pull away from the fast-starting Team BMW Brazil entry of Atila Abreu almost immediately.
The Dutchman was a couple of seconds to the good after three laps and six second ahead by the 10-lap mark.
Vanthoor resumed with a 11s advantage over the Bentley now driven by Maximilian Buhk, who had leapfrogged the Brazilian BMW Z4 GT3 in the pits, and was to maintain that gap to the end.
Factory Audi driver Vanthoor, who won both races at the Brands Hatch BSS round together with Frijns last month, said: "It is never easy and we still had to fight for it.
"We were fearing and excepting the Ferrari to be strong and spent a lot of time talking about tactics, but they ended up being wasted hours."
Valdeno Brito came home third in the BMW he shared with Abreu, but was less than half a second clear of the sister car driven by Caca Bueno and Sergio Jimenez at the finish.
The Phoenix Audi of Niki Mayr-Melnhof and Markus Winkelhock ended up fifth after a quick mid-race pitstop.
Jules Szymkowiak and Tom Dillmann took honours in the Silver Cup class in the second HTP Bentley with sixth place.
Christopher Mies had jumped to ninth on the grid to third on the first lap in what was subsequently adjudged to be a false start, which resulted in a drive-through just after he had taken second from Abreu.
RESULT - 39 LAPS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R.Frijns, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1h00m26.711s |
| 2 | V.Abril, M.Buhk | Bentley Team HTP | Bentley | 9.944s |
| 3 | V.Brito, A.Abreu | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 13.609s |
| 4 | C.Bueno, S.Jimenez | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 14.041s |
| 5 | N.M.-Melnhof, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 19.289s |
| 6 | J.Szymkowiak, T.Dillmann | Bentley Team HTP | Bentley | 21.671s |
| 7 | S.Ortelli, S.Richelmi | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 22.635s |
| 8 | F.Salaquarda, M.Bonanomi | ISR | Audi | 29.817s |
| 9 | A.T.Taxis, P.Kox | Reiter Engineering | Lamborghini | 30.631s |
| 10 | S.Walkinshaw, C.Dolby | MRS GT Racing | Nissan | 40.606s |
| 11 | N.Armindo, P.Wlazik | Attempto Racing | McLaren | 58.120s |
| 12 | T.Fjordbach, A.Fjordbach | ISR | Audi | 1m02.487s |
| 13 | A.Karachev, B.Schneider | GT Russian Team | Mercedes | 1m02.962s |
| - | C.Mies, E.Ide | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
| - | K.Estre, R.Bell | Attempto Racing | McLaren | Retirement |
| - | M.Seefried, N.Siedler | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | Retirement |
| - | J.Nash, F.Stippler | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | Withdrawn |
| - | A.Vasiliev, M.Asmer | GT Russian Team | Mercedes | Retirement |
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