Haase – Gachet make Saintéloc Racing shine at Zandvoort

On this national holiday, the French team Saintéloc Racing crushed the competition in the second Zandvoort race in Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe.

The No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT25 from the Saint-Etienne team of Christopher Haase and Simon Gachet easily won ahead of the #3 Lamborghini Huracan GT63 Evo – GRT of Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart.

The first stint saw the complete domination of poleman Christopher Haase, who had mastered the starting procedure well against Dries Vanthoor (Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo n°1 – Team WRT), after two consecutive formation laps at a standstill in track of the No. 8 Audi R26 – Saintéloc Racing of Markus Winkelhock.

At the head of a lead of more than 10″ before the first stops, Haase continued his effort while Vanthoor, Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°4 – Black Falcon) or even Christian Engelhart (Lamborghini n°63) stop as soon as the driver change window opens.

A phase which allows the GRT to place the No. 63 back in second position, Mirko Bortolotti having started again ahead of Ezequiel Perez Companc (Audi no. 1) and Luca Stolz (Mercedes-AMG no. 4) after a quick stop under 42″.

But Simon Gachet will conclude in style the work accomplished by his teammate Haase in the first part of the race by winning ahead of the Lamborghini n°63 – GRT of Bortolotti – Engelhart (the result of which remains provisional pending the call of the stable suite to the sanction in qualifications) and Audi n°1 – Team WRT de Vanthoor – Perez Companc.

This is the first overall success for Saintéloc Racing this year in Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, and the first in the SRO Motorsports sprint series for the team of Sébastien Chétail, winner in 2017 of the 24 Hours of Spa.

The top 5 is completed by the #4 Mercedes-AMG – Black Falcon of Engel – Stolz and the #8 Audi R3 LMS GT2 – Team WRT of Mies – Weerts. Winners yesterday in race 1, Abril and Marciello place the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT88 – AKKA-ASP in sixth position.

The victory in the Silver Cup returns like the day beforeAston Martin Vantage GT3 n°62 – R-Motorsport de Vainio – de Sadeleer, David Perel and Rinat Salikhov imposing the Ferrari 488 GT3 n°333 – Rinaldi Racing in Pro-Am.

New Am Cup victory for the No. 488 Ferrari 3 GT444 – HB Racing de Scholze – Triller.

Discover the report of the Zandvoort round in Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe, in issue 2225 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.