First season of the new project Reiter Young Stars Cup just decided at the last event at Zandvoort. New faces on podium in last two races.
For rounds 8 and 9 of the Reiter Young Stars Cup, the eight KTM X-BOW GT4 head to Zandvoort in the Netherlands. A challenging circuit in the dunes as a difficult task for the final races. While the fight for the Women´s Championship was a duet, the men´s title could have been a fight between up to four of the young talents. But race 1 should decide everything.
Male driver Championship
Race 1 on Sunday morning went green and just some corners after the start the fight for the first driver was done without any chance to avoid it. Lennart Marioneck (RYS Team Holinger) had been send into the barriers by another competitor at high speed. The mess of parts at the track after the crash looked crucial, but Lennart Marioneck was totally unhurt thanks to the enormous strength of the KTM X-BOW GT4 chassis. The damage of the car was too bad, so the weekend of Marioneck and his fight for the Championship had been over way too early.
After the restart it didn´t get easier for the drivers with a second safety-car-period in the second half. With maximum points, Maciej Dreszer (RYS Team Hohenberg event) finished race 1, while Marko Helistekangas (RYS Team Pankl) should get the points for second place. As his direct rivals for the Championship, Thoams Krebs (RYS Team WP) and Cedric Freiburghaus (RYS Team True Racing), finished in 3rd and 4th, situation for Helistekangas was clear. He could increase his gap to Krebs and Freiburghaus and won the title already in race 1!
On Sunday afternoon, it should be a challenge between Krebs and Freiburghaus for third place in the Championship. And a new point system made it even more difficult for the driver´s tactics. In the first four events, each driver got points for the average of his five fastest laps. In Zandvoort, points had been split. Half of the points for the average of the five fastest laps, half of the points for the average of all laps of the race with the exception of laps behind the Safety Car or Full Course Yellow.
Cedric Freiburghaus had a better average in the five laps category, but Thomas Krebs made it with his overall lap average. The Swiss driver Freiburghaus finished fifth, Krebs from Denmark in third and also took the third spot in the Championship. Winner of the RYS Race 2 at Zandvoort should be a newbie on the top of the podium. Jaime Vandenbalck (RYS Team KTM) took his first vicotory in the very last race of the season, while Mads Siljehaug (RYS Team Hohenberg Event) took P3.
“This season in GT4 was good and it was nice to have so many different cars out there. It was fun to race again with Mollermadsen and Krebs because we used to race in the same karting class some years ago. There were many new tracks for me but I managed to learn the tracks fast enought to beable to win the RYS cup”, so Reiter Young Stars Cup male winner Marko Helistekangas. “After racing two seasons with GT4 cars I feel like I am prepared for GT3. Now I have won 4 seasons in a row the series where I have competited. Next year I will gain more experience from GT3 and I believe that I can do some good results also. Anyway it will be hard to win next season so the goal for next season will be more about gaining very much experience. I want to say thank you to my team and people who supported me during the season.”
Female driver Championship
The final weekend started tough for RYS Team KTM driver Laura Kraihamer. Due to an accident of her team mate Vandenbalck, she lost a lot of track time in free practice. But the Reiter Engineering mechanics fixed the #14 KTM X-BOW GT4 in extremely short time and Kraihamer was “ready to race” again. For the Austrian, the next shock wasn´t far away. With Vandenbalck behind the wheel, the car got hit from behind in the opening stage in race 1 and came to the pits. Again the mechanics showed their performance of long term GT Racing experience and could send out Kraihamer in the second half of the race!
Caitlin Wood wasn´t too happy with the setup of her car and tried to do safe and fast laps. She came to Zandvoort with a 13 points lead, so she didn´t had to risk too much. The best average out of five laps looked good, but in the overall average Wood lost some minor ground on Sunday morning. So she came home in second behind a hard fighting Laura Kraihamer, who shortened the gap to Wood by 3,5 points in race 1. Third went to Anna Rathe (RYS Team True Racing), her third podium finish of the season.
Race 2 on Sunday afternoon had to bring the final decision about the female title! This time, Laura Kraihamer dominated both challenges clear with the best average and she took the maximum 25 points for the ranking. Caitlin Wood claimed second position with a range of constant lap times and again didn´t take any risk. 18 points were enough to win the Reiter Young Stars Competition Anna Rathe closed her season in the KTM X-BOW GT4 with the second podium finish of the weekend.
“This year´s season of European GT4 has been such a great initation of me into GT racing and the way everything works”, said the first female Champion of the Reiter Young Stars Cup Caitlin Wood. “The tracks we have raced at have been unbelievable and the racing with all of the competitors has always been tough but fun. I really enjoyed my season in GT4 with Reiter Engineering in their Young Stars Program and I am ecstatic about receiving the drive in GT3 for 2017 in the Blancpain Sprint Series. The hard work is only just beginning!”
RYS winners already teamed up for one race
Caitlin and Marko already drove together in the same car at the RYS round in Pau. After a crash of the RYS Team Pankl car in Free Practice, Marko stepped into Caitlin´s RYS Team KISKA KTM X-BOW GT4. In 2017, they will do the next step as a team and enter the Cockpit of a Reiter Engineering Gallardo R-EX in the Blancpain Sprint Series!