Cesar Ramos and Laurens Vanthoor score their first Main Race win of the season.
With four Qualifying Race wins, but none in a Main Race, Laurens Vanthoor and Cesar Ramos had a point to prove at the Baku World Challenge. Ramos managed to get off the line swiftly, beating Jonny Adam in the sprint to the first chicane and holding on to the lead during the whole first part of the season finale.
With the pitstop for the Aston Martin not exactly going according to plan, Laurens Vanthoor had a seven second lead after the pitstop and looked set for a relatively easy second part of the race.
However, that was not how Andy Soucek had read the script, and the Spanish Aston driver managed to get the gap under three seconds. Vanthoor stepped up his pace and the #1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi took its first Main Race win of the season, with the added bonus of a cheque of 100.000 euros reserved for the winners of the Baku World Challenge.
The fight for third proved to be almost as exciting, with Stephane Ortelli (#9 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi) and Markus Winkelhock (#6 Phoenix Racing Audi) racing nose-to-tail around the Baku street circuit. Winkelhock eventually found his way past the Monegasque driver and together with teammate Niki Mayr-Melnhof scored their first podium finish of the season.
In Silver Cup Benjamin Hetherington and Miguel Toril confirmed their Qualifying Race win in the Main Race, with Marko Asmer and Alexey Vasiliev doing the same in Pro-Am Trophy, which brought them up to third overall in the Pro Am Blancpain Sprint Series standings..
Maximilian Götz is crowned 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series champion
Before the start of the Baku weekend it was clear that the Blancpain Sprint Series title would be decided between Maximilian Götz (#84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes) and the #28 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini pairing of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Hari Proczyk. During the Qualifying Race the Dutch-Austrian duo looked set to keep their chances alive until the Main Race, running in second, while the Mercedes of Götz and Buhk was gradually losing positions due to a damaged rear wing.
However, with ten minutes to go, the front of the Lamborghini of Proczyk started to fall apart. The aluminium frame holding the front bumper had collapsed, and several body parts became detached. After being shown the black and orange flag, Proczyk had no choice but to come in for repairs, losing any hope of the 2014 title in the process. Maxi Götz managed to bring his damaged HTP Mercedes home in 9th, which was enough to claim the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series drivers title, having claimed three Main Race wins this season.
Laurens Vanthoor and Belgian Audi Club Team WRT take titles
The Baku World Challenge was also the final round of the inaugural Blancpain GT Series, combining the results of the Endurance and Sprint Series. In both the driver and team rankings the outcome was to be decided during the Main Race, with Maximilian Buhk and the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT going into the final race of the season as the respective Series leaders.
Both title fights would be as good as decided in the early stages of the race, when René Rast in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi made contact with the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes of Maximilian Götz. Both cars hit the wall and had to retire. When the sole remaining HTP Motorsport car had to retire as well, the team title went to the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, but Vanthoor still had to finish in the top two to claim the drivers’ crown as well. Despite pressure from Soucek, the Belgian had no problems in doing so and after winning the Total 24 Hours of Spa and the Blancpain Endurance Series, Vanthoor put another important feather on his cap.
Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski first Silver Cup champions
In Baku the fight for the first Silver Cup title added some more spice to an already exciting event. Series leaders Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski had a terrible start to the weekend, when the Frenchman crashed hard during qualifying. The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT crew did an excellent job in repairing the car overnight, but the French-Polish duo still had to finish in the Main Race to hold on to first place in the standings. With the #4 Audi R8 LMS ultra developing gearbox problems, Abril and Lisowski had to nurse their car home, finishing six laps down. It still was enough to claim the Silver Cup, after a season in which the duo took four Main Race wins.
Marc Basseng and Alessandro Latif win the Pro-Am Trophy
With the Pro-Am Trophy freshly in their pockets – their win in Zolder gave them an unassailable lead – Marc Basseng and Alessandro Latif came to Baku with the determination to add one more choice performance to their tally. Sadly, it was not to be. Basseng hit the wall during qualifying and the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi was damaged beyond repair. However, with four main race wins to their names, Latif and Basseng were still the best Pro-Am duo of the season.
Bakudaily.Az
