Stefano D’Aste made an impressive debut in the GT4 European Cup at the weekend, winning two of the three races held at the opening round in Zandvoort, Holland.
The former WTCC star, driving a Scuderia Giudici Lotus Evora, won the opening race after a thrilling battle in the early stages with the Rhesus Racing Aston Martin of Jan Joris Verheul and the Team Ningbo Ginetta G50 driven by fellow series debutant Chris Stockton.
D’Aste initially nudged ahead of Verheul at the start, but the Aston Martin man fought back to re-take the lead as the front three ran nose-to-tail in the opening laps.
The decisive moment in the lead battle came on lap 8 of 14 when Verheul made a mistake and D’Aste dived ahead. Stockton tried to follow the Italian through, but Verheul closed the door and the resulting contact saw the British driver limp back to the pits to retire.
The incident gave D’Aste a clear run to the flag, while Verheul held on to second place ahead of the SSR Corvette of Peter van der Kolk.
Race 2 saw Jeroen Bleekmolen take over the SSR car from van der Kolk and the Dutch driver led from lights-to-flag to take victory.
Despite his dominance, he was never able to open up a comfortable lead as Ricardo van der Ende crossed the finish line just 1.108 seconds behind in the Ekris BMW M3 with D’Aste just four tenths further back in third.
The weekend-ending 50 minute pit stop race saw D’Aste produce a succession of qualifying-style laps early on as he pulled out a big lead at the front.
He emerged from his compulsory stop with his lead intact ahead of Verheul and the similar Lotus of Cor Euser and Dick Freebird, but it was the charging Bleekemolen who was his biggest threat.
Taking over from his team-mate, van der Kolk, in fourth place, the former Porsche Supercup champion quickly dispatched Freebird and Verheul to move into second and began the pursuit of D’Aste.
However, despite D’Aste’s lead crumbling in the dying laps, Bleekemolen ran out of time to catch the Lotus driver, ultimately settling for second place just 1.080 seconds adrift.
Verheul held on for third in the car he shares with Dennis Retera, while Florian Renauer was fourth in his Ginetta G50.
GT4 European Cup results – Round 1, Zandvoort
Race 1
1 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, 14 laps
2 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +5.401
3 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen Bleekemolen, SSR, Corvette C6, +13.818
4 Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, +19.949
5 Bernhard van Oranje / PC van oranje, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +23.707
6 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +25.910
7 Renaud Kuppens / Daniel Waszinski, Konvex Motorsport, Maserati GranTurismo GT4, +30.976
8 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +31.123
9 Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +43.627
10 Christophe Legrand / Bart van Haren, DVB Racing, BMW M3, +47.429
11 Michael Drabing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +56.078
12 Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +1:30.502
13 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1 lap
14 Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven, +2 laps
Not classified
Edouard Leganov, Sun Racing, Ginetta G50, 9 laps
Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, 8 laps
Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, DSQ
Race 2
1 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen Bleekemolen, SSR, Corvette C6, 13 laps
2 Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +1.108
3 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1.583
4 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +17.668
5 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +23.143
6 Bernhard van Oranje / PC van oranje, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +26.216
7 Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, +27.931
8 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +52.628
9 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1:17
10 Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, +1:40
11 Renaud Kuppens / Daniel Waszinski, Konvex Motorsport, Maserati GranTurismo GT4, +1 lap
12 Christophe Legrand / Bart van Haren, DVB Racing, BMW M3, +1 lap
13 Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven, +1 lap
14 Edouard Leganov, Sun Racing, Ginetta G50, +2 laps
15 Michael Drabing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +3 laps
Not classified
Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50,
Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, DNS
Race 3
1 Stefano D’Aste, Scuderia Giudici, Lotus Evora GT4, 27 laps
2 Peter van der Kolk / Jeroen Bleekemolen, SSR, Corvette C6, +1.080
3 Jan Joris Verheul / Dennis Retera, Rhesus Racing, Aston Martin Vantage, +34.041
4 Florian Renauer, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +37.564
5 Ales Jirasek / Jiri Gottwald, GTR CZ, Ginetta G50, +57.165
6 Michael Drabing, Renauer Motorsport, Ginetta G50, +1:.30.760
7 Wim van Genderen / Luc Braams, Verschuur, Camaro GT4, +1:41.627
8 Chris Stockton / Steven Brady, Team Ningbo, Ginetta G50, +1:41.903
9 Bernhard van Oranje / PC van oranje, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4, +1 lap
10 Dick Freebird / Cor Euser, Marcos Racing International, Lotus Evora GT4, +1 lap
11 Andrea Perlini / Marco Fumagalli, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus Evora GT4, +1 lap
12 Renaud Kuppens / Daniel Waszinski, Konvex Motorsport, Maserati GranTurismo GT4, +2 laps
13 Ant Scragg / James Appelby, Generation AMR, Aston Martin Vantage, +2 laps
14 Edouard Leganov, Sun Racing, Ginetta G50, +2 laps
Not classified
Duncan Huisman / Ricardo van der Ende, Ekris BMW, BMW M3 GT4
Gianni Giudici, Scuderia Guidici, Lotus 2-Eleven
Christophe Legrand / Bart van Haren, DVB Racing, BMW M3
Next round: 5 June, Silverstone
Watch GT4 European Cup highlights on Motors TV.
Andy Wilkinson
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