Romain Grosjean's bad luck

The FIA ​​GT1 world championship stopped last week in Belgium. A fifth meeting marking the debut in the discipline, and at the wheel of the Ford GT, of the Swiss Neel Jani, new teammate of Romain Grosjean.

If the latter managed to qualify for Q2, his new sidekick failed to cross the threshold for Q3.

« It's a shame because the car was really efficient, said Romain Grosjean on Friday morning. But I can't blame Neel, he's discovering GT this weekend, and he's already done a good job on his debut in the discipline. As always, we will do our best to come back and position ourselves well for the race! »

Alas, the qualifying race on Friday was also disappointing. Having moved up from 12th to 7th place, the No. 6 Ford GT Matech Compétition experienced countless problems, and it was ultimately from 19th place on the starting grid that it set off on Saturday for the championship race.

The next day, our two friends had little better luck, since a problem with the seat adjustment during the change of drivers caused the American to be immobilized for too many seconds in the pits.

“We really didn't have any luck, lamented the Frenchman upon arrival. During the first race, the car became completely undriveable! So we worked a lot and managed to improve the handling, which allowed me to get back into the championship race! But a mechanical problem occurred during the pit stop, and caused us to lose 30 seconds... It's a shame because I think the points were within our reach today? »

Overall, his former teammate Thomas Mutsch having finished third alongside Richard Westbrook, Romain Grosjean lost a place and found himself third, 21 points behind Vitaphone drivers Michael Batels and Andrea Bertolini, leaders of the provisional classification. It will be imperative to stock up on points during the next round at the Nürburgring on August 22.

Find the full report of the Belgian round of the FIA ​​GT1 world championship and the 24 Hours of Spa in your AUTOhebdo magazine on newsstands tomorrow.