BLACK FALCON scores important championship points in Zandvoort

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Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe – Race Report Round 3, Zandvoort

BLACK FALCON has defended the lead in the driver and team classification at the third race weekend of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe at Zandvoort. Despite a strong performance by the team and the driver duo Maro Engel (DE) and Luca Stolz (DE), the team from Meuspath was denied a place on the podium. With the track drying out and the resulting extremely difficult conditions, Stolz and Engel qualified for grid positions four (Saturday) and three (Sunday). On the narrow Zandvoort circuit the drivers were unable to pass their rivals in either race, although they showed a great pace. Thus the BLACK FALCON Mercedes-AMG GT3 #4 finished both races in 4th position.

In Saturday's race Stolz started from 4th place. In the first corner he dropped one position just before an accident in midfield brought the safety car onto the track. At the re-start Stolz was stuck behind a competitor and lost another place. Despite a great race pace, there was no chance of overtaking. When changing drivers to Engel, the team made one of the fastest pit stops in the field and managed to overtake two rivals in the pits. Back on track in 4th, Engel closed the gap to the second and third placed cars within just a few laps, but also found no way around. After a race distance of one hour the team had set the fastest lap of the race and finished fourth overall.

On Sunday the race started as usual with swapped roles. Engel started from third position and was again faster than his rivals in front of him. Despite a quick stop, the team lost one position during the driver change because the previously fifth-placed car managed to do probably the fastest pit stop of the season. Stolz tried everything to pass the third placed number 1 Audi, but in the end had to settle for fourth place.

Quotes on the weekend

Sean Paul Breslin (Team Principal BLACK FALCON GT): "The difficult conditions in qualifying probably cost us some points. With our speed in dry conditions we could have won both races, but unfortunately the track doesn't offer any overtaking possibilities. We now focus on the upcoming highlight of the season, the 24 hours of Spa in two weeks.

Maro Engel (Driver #4): “A pair of fourth places, that means valuable points for us. On one hand, it is a pity as we probably could have done a little bit better, because our pace was very good throughout the weekend. Here my thanks to the team for the great job and the super car. Unfortunately, due to the mixed conditions in qualifying, we were unable to get ourselves into a better grid position. All in all, however, we are happy with the point score and we are looking forward to the season highlight at Spa in a fortnight.”

Luca Stolz (Driver #4): “Not an optimal weekend, but a pair of fourth places is okay for us with a view to the championship, even though, basically, our ambitions are higher. In race one, we slightly lost out at the start, but we made up during the pit stop. In the second race, on the other hand, we lost some time during the stop. But we have defended our championship lead and we have to remain focussed as Spa is already coming up as the next highlight.”

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