Charlie Fagg and Phil Glew won the second race of the GT4 European Series Northern Cup at Zandvoort. Yesterday’s winners dominated the second race of the weekend. Ekris Motorsport drivers Ricardo van der Ende and Max Koebolt clinched the Silver Cup title at Zandvoort, with the Dutch team securing the teams title on their home track.
The #60 Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 started from pole position and Fagg was able to keep Mads Siljehaug (KTM) and Nyls Stievenart (Ginetta) behind. Siljehaug dropped down the order when he spun out of the Hans Ernst corner four minutes into the race, which promoted Stievenart to second place.
Stievenart was unable to keep up with race leader Fagg and his day got worse when a fire broke out on his Ginetta. Stievenart got out of the car and the race was red flagged in order to extinguish the fire and clear the track. The cars returned to the pits, where the decision was taken to perform the driver change before the race was restarted.
Once everything had been cleared, the cars were sent back out onto the track behind the safety car. With 17 minutes left on the clock the green flags were waved and Glew immediately pulled away from Willem Meijer in the RYS Team Kiska KTM and Finlay Hutchison in the Equipe Verschuur McLaren, gaining several seconds per lap.
Seven minutes from the end Meijer threw away an almost certain podium position when he ran wide at Scheivlak. This allowed Hutchison to move into second place and Van der Ende into third, 15 seconds behind race leader Glew.
Glew’s lead was reduced when Jamie Vandenbalck spun into the gravel, causing another safety car. After two green flag laps the checkered flag came out, with Glew taking Ebor GT Motorsport’s second win of the weekend. Hutchison finished in second place, with Van der Ende securing the final Silver Cup podium position and the teams’ title for Ekris Motorsport.
In Pro-AM Ander Vilarino and Nicolas Leutwiler seemed on their way to victory, but on the penultimate lap Leutwiler ran wide at the Arie Luyendyk corner. The #111 RN Vision STS Porsche Cayman CS MR GT4 moved into the lead, but on the last lap Razvan Umbrarescu was passed by Jörg Viebahn in the #22 Allied-Racing Porsche. However, there was contact, Viebahn was given a penalty and Umbrarescu and Piana were declared winners.
Scuderia Villorba Corse drivers Romy Dall’Antonia and Giuseppe Fascicolo won the AM class with their Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4, finishing just 0.215s clear of Ivan Vlachkov in the Sofia Car Motorsport SIN R1 GT4. Autorlando Sport drivers Giuseppe Ghezzi and Manuele Mengozzi finished in third place.
Charlie Fagg (#60 Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4): “Great race. I started from pole and it all went to plan. It was the first time ever leading from a rolling start. The KTM behind me spun, so that meant I got a massive gap, which just kept building. I then had several seconds when the red flag came out. What was very fun for me, was short-lived. The team just did an absolute perfect job and Phil did a great job as well.”
Phil Glew (#60 Ebor GT Motorsport Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4): “It was a bit frantic in the pits. Managed to get into the car on time. I did three restarts, so it was nice to keep building that lead, but it was also quite fun to then back up us all up into the pack and have to do some perfect restarts. The car was superb, Charlie has been on fire all weekend and the team did an amazing job.”
Max Koebolt (#8 Ekris Motorsport Ekris M4 GT4): “This is awesome. Winning the title one weekend from the end of the season is great. I had some bad luck in GT3 in the last two years and winning this title now, in front of our own fans on our home track…it can’t be more special!”
Ricardo van der Ende (#8 Ekris Motorsport Ekris M4 GT4): “What a great feeling. I am really happy. This is my 12th season with Ekris Motorsport and my sixth title with them! Now we’ll go for the overall European title. It’s my 22nd title in my career, but it still feels great!”
Stian Boers (Team manager, Ekris Motorsport Ekris M4 GT4): “It hasn’t sunk in yet. Winning a championship is not like winning a race. Usually you win it at the end of the season, but it’s a bit earlier now. The guys worked hard to win it. The key was scoring points from the start, despite not having the fastest car. We made the right decisions and it really is satisfying to win the title. It really was a team effort!”