The start of the Blancpain GT Sprint Serie at Misano/Italy did not really go according to the plans and wishes of Grasser Racing Team.
Already in the qualifying race on Saturday Mirko Bortolotti had to retire at the second lap of his stint due to technical problems. Which meant that the Italian and his German teammate Nicolas Pohler had to start into the main race on Sunday from 38th position in their Lamborghini Huracan GT3, number 63. “From there we still managed to move forward to 12th place. That was definitely the maximum we could get”, explained Bortolotti. “I am really proud of the team and looking forward to the next race.“
While Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen and his Slovakian teammate Stefan Rosina in car number 16 did not see the chequered flag after being hit by an Audi under yellow, German Luca Stolz and Italian Michele Beretta, who took part in the Silver Cup Class in their Lamborghini number ended in a slightly unlucky fourth position in their class. After winning the qualifying race on Saturday in their category, they had a fascinating fight for the lead with the Audi of Nicolaj Moller Madsen and Markus Pommer, until a drive through penalty for so-called “not respecting track limits” dropped them back to fourth.
Team principal Gottfried Grasser wants to leave the generally disappointing weekend behind as soon as possible: “Misano was just not our race. Something did not go well from the very first moment, we were never really competitive. So the highlight remained Luca´s and Michele´s win on Saturday. We just have to tick this weekend it off and look to the future. Anyway, we are already on our way to Oschersleben for the start of the ADAC GT Masters.“
There the Grasser team will take part with two cars in their debut season at the high class event: The number 63 is driven by well experienced Christian Engelhart and Rolf Ineichen. Engelhart already won six races at the ADAC GT Masters, and Ineichen, a 37-year old business man from Switzerland, can also look back at a lot of experience in GT racing, mainly with Porsche. The second car is shared by the two Lamborghini junior drivers Luca Stolz and Gerald Tweraser. 20-year-old German Stolz, who in 2013 while only 17 was the youngest ever starter in German Porsche Carrera Cup already took part at the ADAC GT Masters last year in a Bentley. 27-year-old Austrian Tweraser, “local boy” at Grasser Racing, is already looking forward to representing Murtal colours at such a high class racing category.
Competition for the two Grasser Lamborghini will be huge: 19 teams with more than 30 super sports cars from eight different manufacturers and a mix of very well-named and competitive drivers will start into the great anniversary season of the ADAC GT Masters at Oschersleben. It´s quite difficult to name any favorites in advance. The fact that Audi driver Christopher Mies set the fastest time during testing at the same track about one week ago does not have to say a lot, as probably nobody has shown their full potential so far. “Testing is mainly about going through your own homework”, says team principal Grasser. “Probably at the earliest only after this weekend we we will have a rough idea where we really stand. But I am optimistic that we can be competitive from the beginning.”
Press release Grasser Racing Team/Wolfgang Koepp
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