Under a difficult starting position, PROsport Racing got the maximum out of the ADAC GT4 Germany at Zandvoort.
Zandvoort was the venue for the second ADAC GT4 Germany race event. As in Oschersleben, the Wiesemscheid-based racing team fielded four Aston Martin Vantage GT4 cars. However, there was a driver line-up change: by mutual agreement, the Bäckman siblings and PROsport Racing parted ways before the event in the Netherlands, with seven-time GT4 champion Ricardo van der Ende piloting the car with fast Belgian Benjamin Lessennes instead. “All I can say about the split is that especially the parents of the drivers have too high expectations in motorsport,” said team owner Chris Esser. “As a result, we have already decided after the first race weekend to an amicable separation, which was supported by both sides.”
Already after the publication of the vehicle classification (BoP) it was clear to the PROsport team that it will not be an easy weekend on the Dutch North Sea coast. Last year’s champions Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse finished the two races in fourth and fifth place, which was the maximum given the starting position. This allowed the two drivers to score two solid points results in the title fight and consolidate their good position in the overall standings. In addition, Ricardo van der Ende and Benjamin Lessennes finished both races in the top 10, also scoring two solid points results on their debut in the ADAC GT4 Germany and in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4.
“I have the feeling that the SRO BoP is now only designed for qualifying, so that as many vehicle brands as possible are close together. Unfortunately, this often leads to more boring races, as this classification does not match the possible qualities of the vehicles,” Esser continues. “We don’t even want to have the best classification in every race, our wish is just that every car goes into the races with a fair classification. To me, BoP means that you have to have a chance to win with every type of car. That was clearly not the case here and I see a danger here that the trend is towards a “driver BoP”. We hope that the classification for the upcoming race weekend at the Nürburgring will be adjusted accordingly so that we are more competitive again.”
After two of six race weekends, Ortmann and Sasse occupy fourth position in the overall standings. PROsport Racing is also fourth in the ADAC GT4 Germany team standings. Yevgen Sokolovskiy and Damon Surzyshyn occupy fifth position in the Trophy standings.
The third ADAC GT4 Germany race weekend will take place at the Nürburgring on the first weekend in August after a summer break.
