On Sunday, cheering was out of control at rhino’s Leipert Motorsport on the Portuguese racing circuit in Portimao as the team and drivers David Mengesdorf and Hari Proczyk in car number 11 won their first race in the FIA GT3 European Championship after five podium positions. The duo had a sensational race in their Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ leaving the competitors well behind right from the start. With a third place on Saturday, rhino’s Leipert Motorsport had already proven their ambitions for further top rankings. Due to these brilliant results, they are now holding third place in the overall ranking. Eduard Leganov and Riccardo Brutschin in Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ with starting number 12 reached position ten and nine.
During the first race, the team still had to accept defeat by the two Mercedes SLS which were simply better on the Portuguese racing circuit. However, one day later, their luck changed: Proczyk started from position 4 and once again focused on a podium position; but the Austrian was aiming for even more and had a sensational start. He took over the lead before the first bend, quite to the surprise of his competitors. Proczyk once again showed his professionalism as he had his competitors under control over a very long racing distance. However, shortly before opening the pit stop window on the circuit at the Algarve, he could not keep the SLS and driver Baumann behind him without taking a larger risk and thus decided to let Baumann pass. Two laps before closure of the pit stop window, the team got Proczyk in the box in order to change drivers. Mengesdorf took over car no. 11, had to take the 10 second-penalty as per rules and regulations (podium position at Navarra) and therefore re- entered the race in 4th place. Within the next 5 laps, Mengesdorf also showed his remarkable performance and took over the lead bringing home victory for team rhino’s Leipert.
“This was a fabulous weekend for us”, Team Manager Ingo Leipert explained beaming. “The third place in the first race was already reason enough for great joy, but our boys in car no. 11 really did a sensational job during the second race. Especially Hari’s start and David’s overtaking manoeuvres after pit stop and driver change were magnificent. Eduard and Riccardo in sibling car no. 12 also proved their worth during their first race in Lamborghini Gallardo in the FIA GT3 European Championships. I would also like to thank all team members for their professional work without which such success would have been impossible. The Lamborghinis performed well and collaboration with Reiter Engineering was also outstanding and confirms once more that our decision to cooperate was the right step to take.”
Mengesdorf and Proczyk are now holding third place of the overall ranking and are only one point behind Gaetano Ardagna Perez and Guiseppe Cirò who hold second place. The duo at the top, Dominik Baumann and Maximilian Buhk, are only 20 points ahead!
The dates for the next two FIA GT3 European Championship racing events are not fixed yet. It is not yet clear if races nine and ten will be held on the racing track in Moscow in September. The end of the season is most probably held at the Nürburgring at the end of September together with the FIA GT1 World Championships.
First, however, the team is going to participate in the ADAC GT Masters tournament which is held at the Nürburgring next weekend as part of the Truck Grand Prix.
Source : rhino’s Leipert Motorsport