More bitter pills for PROsport Performance at ADAC GT Masters opener

Monday, April 29, 2019


If the 'difficulties' of the opening two races on Saturday within the ADAC GT Masters and ADAC GT4 Germany weren't bad enough for PROsport Performance (racing as PROpeak Performance) to contend with, then the results of Sunday's second round of races really told everyone that Sunday wasn't to be their day either!

In Saturday's earlier ADAC GT4 race, their pole setting #18 car of Florian Thoma suffered a puncture at the most critical time, mid flow around a fast chicane that spun his car out and heavily into the tyre barrier causing some significant damage to the front of his Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT4. Then, just after the resulting Safety Car period needed to clear up the debris of that incident the teams sister #19 car of Joerg Viebahn spun his car out into retirement after becoming beached in a gravel trap.


For the Vantage GT3 side of the garage things faired no better in their GT Masters opener as a technical issue stopped the #98 car of Valentin Hasse-Clot on the start/finish line just a lap before the end whilst the #99 car of Maxime Martin (despite finishing P10) was later excluded from the result on a technical issue at post race tech.

Sunday it should have been better for the team and despite the track being very wet during the two morning Qualifying sessions at least three of their cars would be on track. The #18 car would be sadly missing from the second GT4 race due to the front end damage being too severe to repair at the circuit despite six additional engineers being on hand from Prodrive in support of the team as part of their Partner status.


GT4's were again out first and this time it was the turn of the young Joonas Lappalainen to get his first racing laps within the car (having missed out on Saturday due to its early retirement) and he did well to qualify the car in P5.

This time, keeping his car out of trouble on the frantic opening laps he still was able to race those around him he was eventually able to pass the car back to his co-driver Viebahn at the half way mark who (having calmed his own driving mannerisms down a little from Saturday) brought the car home in P8 for some valuable points. Great job!


With the two GT3 cars, it was much the same as Saturday with each car never really being to bother those around them in terms of ultimate speed - whether that was due to a collective issue or BoP or something we just don't know yet and despite this, the #99 again qualified ahead of the #98 car in P16 and P24 respectively.

With the track now having dried from the days earlier ran during Qualifying at least the race would start and finish in dry conditions avoiding the drama of the final six minutes of Saturdays race. Unfortunately that didn't give either Vantage GT3 an advantage throughout the 60 minute plus one lap race as both cars would eventually cross the line in the same order but down in P14 and P19 places. That was better than Saturday but ...........................


After the race sadly came similar news of Saturday with that both Vantage GT3 cars would again be excluded from the results for what the team described as 'previously unexplained technical irregularities that were not compatible with the regulations'. Clearly there are a few technical issues to be sorted by the team with the race organisers and Aston Martin Racing in order to prevent any repetition of this as well as working out just how performance issues can be sorted within both platforms of the car.

For the two Vantage GT4 cars - they will be back out again racing at the second round of the GT4 European Series at Brands Hatch this coming weekend whilst the GT3 will out at the next round of the ADAC GT Masters at Most in the Czech Republic in about three weeks time.

Photo credits - ADAC GT Masters / PROpeak Performance
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