Zandvoort (NL), 21st August 2016. BMW Motorsport Juniors Jesse Krohn
(FI) and Louis Delétraz (CH) defied some nasty weather conditions in
Zandvoort (NL) to score points in both races during the race weekend
in the ADAC GT Masters. On Saturday, the duo finished ninth in the
Schubert Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, and then made it to eighth place in a
turbulent race on Sunday. Zandvoort was the location for the sixth,
and penultimate, round in the 2016 ADAC GT Masters.
On Saturday, the weather around the circuit in the dunes was pleasant
and sunny. Krohn qualified in seventh with the BMW M6 GT3. Krohn and
Delétraz finished ninth in the race, which was interrupted twice for
safety car phases after accidents.
However, the weather altered radically overnight: pouring rain on
Sunday ensured that conditions would be tricky. The wet qualifying
session in the morning ended with 14th place for Delétraz. The Swiss
driver had to contend with heavy traffic as the whole field attempted
to use a short period of light rain to record a good lap time. The
weather improved again after that, and the race started in sunny and
dry conditions. However, a short but heavy shower appeared after a
quarter of an hour. Some drivers chose to make an extra stop to put on
wet weather tyres, but the team decided to stay out with the BMW M6
GT3. Delétraz completed his stint on slick tyres, in the most
challenging conditions, before handing the car over to Krohn, who
completed the second part of the race as the track dried out. Once
things had calmed down after the mandatory pit stops, Krohn was in
eighth position. He then defended this position until the finish.
Schubert Motorsport also competed in Zandvoort with a second BMW M6
GT3, driven by Claudia Hürtgen (DE) and Jeroen den Boer (NL). After
tyre problems on Saturday, the duo finished 21st in the first race,
but improved to finish ninth on Sunday.
The season finale for the ADAC GT Masters takes place from 30th
September to 2nd October at the Hockenheimring (DE).
Torsten Schubert (Schubert Motorsport Team
Principal): “We should be happy with the result, as Zandvoort
is not an ideal circuit for us. That is why it was even more important
to compete and stay in the top ten. The rain on Sunday turned the race
into a lottery. It was difficult to make the right decision. Maybe we
could have made another stop and switched to wet weather tyres – that
might have helped us move up through the field. But all in all, we had
some positive results.
Louis Delétraz: “It was a good weekend. We did the
maximum we could. Performance wise we continue to improve with every
weekend. It was the first round of the season that we finished in the
points in both races. Sunday’s race was a bit chaotic. I started on
slicks, as it was sunny, but suddenly a big storm with heavy rain
came. We decided to stay out. It was pretty tricky to drive with
slicks in the wet, but we survived and I was able to hand the car over
to Jesse in a good position. He then brought it home in eighth after
we had finished ninth on Saturday, so overall we can be pretty happy
with the weekend.”
Jesse Krohn: “Scoring points in both races gives us
reason to be satisfied. The team did a great job with the tactics, the
pitstopp was great and Louis drove really well. Unfortunately, it was
impossible to do more this weekend as we are still missing a bit
compared to our competition in front.”