Monday (6th) started with a Brazilian party in Nogaro (Fra), where there the Main Race of the season opener of the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series was held. The long awaited victory, which was very close in the 2014 season, came true today and gives even more motivation to the team of Antonio Hermann and Washington Bezerra, which is contesting itsthird season in the GT Series. The sweat but also tough victory came from the hand (and feet) of Dirk Müller/Maxime Martin aboard the BMW Z4 GT3 #77, who made a guest appearance for the team at Nogaro. The Audi R8 of Stephane Richelmi/Stephane Ortelli, in second place, and Christopher Mies/Enzo Ide, in third, completed the podium. The Sperafico twins, in the BMW Z4 #0, completed the race in the 10th place and also scored one point for the championship standings. Next week (12th), the BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil will tackle the first challenge in the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza (Italy), where it will start with its regular Brazilian drivers.
The race started stirred and on the first lap, Belgian Maxime Martin, responsible for the first stint of the race, took the lead, beating the Audi #3, at that time driven by Stephane Richelmi, who started from pole position. Martin maintained a strong pace, opened a gap by over four seconds and stayed in front until the pit stop. The Brazilian team, again, did an excellent job in the pit stop. But when Dirk Müller took control of the BMW Z4 GT3 #77, he made a small mistake with the ignition button and lost some seconds, making the battle for the victory more difficult – but also more exciting, as the German returned to the racetrack in second place.
Müller used his experience to overtake the Audi #2, driven by Enzo Ide and regain the lead. Shortly after, Enzo Ide facilitated the life of his team mate Stephan Ortelli, in the Audi R8 #3, which was then second and chased Müller until the final laps, making it an exciting last twenty minutes of the season opener race. But this time, and with a better equalization of the BMW’s Z4 (an old request of the Brazilian team), the victory was green and yellow. Remember that the duo Müller/Martin had gone up to the podium already on Sunday (5th), with a second place in the Qualifying Race.
In the other car of the Brazilian team, the BMW Z4 # 0, Ricardo Sperafico/Rodrigo Sperafico, who started ninth, battled for positions and soon, Ricardo, who made the first stint of the race, held seventh position.
The Brazilian driver tried more overtaking, but did not find the required space on the French circuit of Paul Armagnac. The pit stop of the Sperafico brothers was also very well executed and Rodrigo took the BMW Z4 #0, for the second stint, in seventh. But the disputes in this group were also fierce, and the BMW Z4 #0 ended up dropping to 10th position at the end of the race, scoring a point for BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil team overall. In the race on Sunday, they had finished in ninth, after starting in the last position.
Quotes
Antonio Hermann – Team Principal BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil
“We are all very happy. Before the race started, I´ve already said that we would win today. We were very confident and now let’s go to Monza to win there as well at our debut in the Endurance Series. This victory is the result of hard work, we got close to it several times last year, but it is also a response to our battle for the equalization of cars. It shows that we were right to ask for it to SRO and now we are competitive. On equal terms, we will fight together with the other teams. Congrats to the whole team. Today we made again a spectacular pit stop, but Müller had a little problem with the ignition button and we lost a few seconds, which made our life a little harder in the fight for victory. But in the end, everything worked out. We are quite confident for the rest of the season with our Brazilian drivers”.
Maxime Martin, BMW Z4 #0
“We are so happy about this win and weekend. I think it was crucial to take the lead so early and I used a little bit of my experience to pass on the first lap. After that I had a clean race and could open a gap. We then lost a bit of time at the pit stop but Dirk did a great job to retake the lead and to control Stéphane in the final stages of the race. We have to say ‘thank you’ to BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil for giving us a really good car. We became stronger and stronger over the weekend and we won the most important race”.
Dirk Müller, BMW Z4 #77
“First of all a big ‘thank you’ to everyone. It was a really emotional victory and great to see the guys celebrate. Maxime did a fantastic stint and opened a gap. Unfortunately I made a small mistake at the pit stop. The stop and driver change were incredible fast, quicker than I expected. I did not press the ignition button properly and this cost us time. From then on I went maximum attack. It was great fun. I retook the lead with a great move in turn 1, where I just gave it try. After that I could control the gap behind me. It was really fantastic. Thank you to Maxime and the whole team who did a brilliant job over the weekend. They really deserved the victory”.
Ricardo Sperafico,BMW Z4 #0
“It wasn´t a weekend as we expected. We had some problems during the qualifying and in the Qualifying Race. Today, in the Main Race, we had a good expectation, but our car did not have the pace we expected. Nevertheless, we are happy for the result of the team, for the victory and it was very positive in general, because we had no accident, so it was great for everyone. The team started the year well.”
About the Endurance Series:
“In Monza, I will race with Átila (Abreu) and Valdeno (Brito), in the car that won the race today, but there it will be an Endurance race and we will have a lot of changes, as the compounds of the tires, brakes, among others things. It is a very different race, but the expectation is the best possible and let´s see if the car corresponds well also in Endurance Series. It is a more competitive event, with 60 cars entered, also different in its duration, since here is half an hour to each driver and there are three drivers, one hour for each, but we will fight to get well too”.