GT4 European goes old school around the twists and turns of Zandvoort
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Previously having raced this season at both Monza and Paul Ricard, those long, fast circuits will be swapped this weekend for something a little more ‘old school’ with the twists, turns and compactness of the Dutch seaside circuit – characteristics of another great post war circuit that have been mostly retained despite its recent elevation to F1 status.
The six full season Aston Martin Racing Customer and Partner team entries again feature upon the entry list, three cars from the AGS Events Racing team and one from each of the Mirage Racing, Racing One and Street Art Racing Teams.
Despite the odd podium here and there throughout the previous four races, the 2021 season has been something of a slow start for these teams who compete in either the Am or Silver Cup classes only. A debuting full season podium during Monza’s second race for the Racing One AMR pairing of Marcus Lungstrass and Henrik Lyngbye-Pederson was the only highlight there after the Mirage Racing AMR of Ruben del Sarte and Tom Canning had come close with a P4 in Race 1. That improved in France with a double podium for the #89 AGS Events Am class car of Nicolas Gomar and Eric Herr, something that finally kick started their Championship hopes.
Akhil Rabindra/Hugo Conde and Cesar Gazeau/Konstantin Lachenauer complete the AGS Event team line up with the former unfortunate victims to a string of bad luck that has seen their #27 side-lined on more than one occasion whilst the latter pairing look fast, are fast but have yet to make their mark within the series together. The #7 Am Class car Pascal Bachman and Paul Theysgens completing the AMR line up with the Street Art Racing team.
Zandvoort will be all about set up in their cars and how they can carry speed into and out of the twisty sections of 4.2km circuit as well as a punchy speed coming out of the new banked final corner and onto the start/finish straight and back into the tight first turn. Accidents and incidents will no doubt be a plenty with long periods of caution likely – everything that will lead to a reduced race length from the original hour designation. The number of entries and the restrictions within the pit lane has also necessitated a separate pit window per class of entry this time around.
Keeping a similar timetable to Ricard, this weekend sees Friday and Saturday reserved for both Free Practice and Qualifying before another back-to-back races during Sunday.
It should be exciting to watch!
Photo credits – GT4 European / Teams
