Silverstone’s new “wing” was the backdrop for the second meeting of the GT4 European Cup with a race format that saw two races on the Saturday for each driver then a 50-minute race on the Sunday with a mandatory pit stop and driver change for those sharing cars.
Saturday’s races were of high entertainment with battles throughout the field. Race 1 was taken by Englishman Alex Buncombe from the Ekris Motorsport BMW M3, race 2 was won by the highly consistent BMW, followed by Stefano D’Aste in second and Jordan Tresson in 3rd driving the Nissan 370Z.
The main event of the weekend was the 50 minute race on the Sunday. Pole position was secured for the Ekris Motorsport BMW. The usual suspects from all previous races were all towards the front of the grid.
Early on in the race the no. 50 BMW continued to lead the race followed closely by the Lotus of D’Aste right up until the pit stop. D’Aste lost time in the pits due to the engine not wanting to restart after his stop losing him eight seconds to the leaders. The Ekris Motorsport team completed a flawless pit stop with Duncan Huisman taking the second half of the race and sealing the overall win for the team.
“We are very pleased with our result, it is our first time here and it took a bit of getting used to,” the winning driver commented to Motors TV.
After a promising start for the Nissan 370Z of Tresson/Buncombe, which was running in second, unfortunately it had to return to the pits with gearbox problems, ending the weekend for the RJN Motorsport team. It was a shame after sealing a win and a 3rd place in the first 2 races of the weekend.
Further down the field there were great battles between the Aston Martins of James Appleby/Anthony Scragg and Dennis Retera/Joris Jan Verheul. The Retera/Verheul car was ahead in the early stages but remained under constant pressure throughout the race until the pit stops, where #07 of Retera/Verheul sealed a podium position for the Rhesus Racing team. The Scragg/Appleby Aston finished just behind their rivals.
Another quite comical battle for 5th was between the No.21 Camaro of Donald Molenaar/Ronald Morien and the Ginetta G50s of Dan Denis and Florian Renauer. No matter how hard they tried to get past the American muscle car, it proved nearly impossible. Through the corners the Ginettas could easily compete but once a straight was in sight the power of the Camero pulled enough of a gap to see them off. Up until the pit stop this continued lap after lap.
Once the pit stops were complete the Camero gapped the chasing G50’s and secured 6th overall, while the Ginetta of Denis finished behind 20 seconds down in 7th.
The Evora of Jackson/Stewart received a drive through penalty while running second; this dropped them down to 5th overall, handing second place to the ever consistent Lotus Evora of D’Aste.
GT4 European Cup results – Rounds 4-6, Silverstone
Round 4
1 Alex Buncombe / Jordan Tresson, RJN Motorsport, Nissan 370Z, 12 laps, 27:06.378
2 Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +0.341
3 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, +0.734
4 Donald Molenaar / Ronald Morien, Equipe Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +27.430
5 Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +27.623
6 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +31.167
7 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +32.293
8 Dan Denis, Scuderia Vittoria, Ginetta G50, +33.567
9 Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, +42.494
10 Henry Taylor / Jake Rattenbury, Motorground, Ginetta G50, +45.080
11 Michael Draebing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +1:03.631
12 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen van den Heuvel, SSR, Corvette C6, +1:06.456
13 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +1:17.596
14 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1:19.393
15 Hal Prewitt, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +1:31.418
16 Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven, +1 lap
Not classified
Oliver Jackson / Stewart Hall, Lotus UK, Lotus Evora GT4, 1 lap
Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, 1 lap
Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, 1 lap
Round 5
1 Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, 12 laps, 27:14.156
2 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, +0.906
3 Alex Buncombe / Jordan Tresson, RJN Motorsport, Nissan 370Z, _12.715
4 Oliver Jackson / Stewart Hall, Lotus UK, Lotus Evora GT4, +12.924
5 Dan Denis, Scuderia Vittoria, Ginetta G50, +13.157
6 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +18.860
7 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +25.372
8 Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +44.553
9 Donald Molenaar / Ronald Morien, Equipe Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +45.110
10 Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, +46.900
11 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen van den Heuvel, SSR, Corvette C6, +58.906
12 Michael Draebing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +1:28.465
13 Hal Prewitt, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +1:31.599
14 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +1:36.535
15 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1:37.274
16 Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, +2:01.811
17 Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven, +2:08.130
Not classified
Henry Taylor / Jake Rattenbury, Motorground, Ginetta G50, 5 laps
Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, DNS
Round 6
1 Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, 12 laps, 50:46.389
2 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, +23.268
3 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +35.174
4 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +43.368
5 Oliver Jackson / Stewart Hall, Lotus UK, Lotus Evora GT4, +43.951
6 Donald Molenaar / Ronald Morien, Equipe Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +1:01.563
7 Dan Denis, Scuderia Vittoria, Ginetta G50, +1:25.081
8 Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, +1:28.509
9 Michael Draebing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +1:50.610
10 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen van den Heuvel, SSR, Corvette C6, +2:09.466
11 Hal Prewitt, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +1 lap
12 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +1 lap
13 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1 lap
14 Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, +1 lap
15 Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven, +6 laps
Not classified
Henry Taylor / Jake Rattenbury, Motorground, Ginetta G50, 9 laps
Alex Buncombe / Jordan Tresson, RJN Motorsport, Nissan 370Z, 7 laps
Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, 5 laps
Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, 3 laps
Championship Standings (after 6 rounds)
1 Stefano D’Aste, 75pts
2 Ricardo van der Ende, 61
3 Jan Joris Verheul, 56
4 Duncan Huisman, 45
5 Dennis Retera, 42
6 Peter van der Kolk, 40
7 Jeroen Bleekemolen, 38
8 James Appelby, 32
9 Ant Scragg, 30
10 Ales Jirisek, 20
= Jiri Gottwald, 20
Next round: 9 July, Spa-Francorchamps
Watch GT4 European Cup highlights from Silverstone on Saturday 11 June at 4:40pm (BST) on Motors TV.
James Foster
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