The promising 20 year old West-Flanders based Enzo Ide, last year third in the GT3 European Championship, competed this last weekend in the second round of the FIA GT World Championship. In front of a home crowd, on the Zolder circuit, Enzo Ide unfortunately did not enjoy the hoped for result. Technical set-backs and highly unstable weather conditions converted the race into a lottery and Enzo Ide, at the wheel of the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia had to content himself with an eleventh place in the championship race on Sunday. Enzo Ide together with his Italian teammate Francesco Castellaci are now ranked ninth in the intermediary World Championship classification. The following round is scheduled on 26th and 27th May when the World Championship GT will be heading on down to Navarra in northern Spain.
The weekend’s first real action was the battle for pole position on Saturday morning, a qualifying similar to F1 run over three sessions, with in each case eliminations. After Enzo Ide had comfortably qualified for Q2, Francesco Castellacci had to satisfy himself with a twelfth place, whilst only the top-8 could battle it out for pole. “Pity, but the drying track didn’t make it any easier”, Ide commented.
The Ferrari-duo were out to put a matters right during the qualifying race on Saturday, however a damaged wheel nut when leaving the pit lane decided otherwise. “As a result the wheel loosened, and we were obliged to start as last from the pit lane, which obviously isn’t ideal”, Enzo Ide continued. “But we weren’t going to give up and we both drove like hell. We finished seventh and if I now look back on what that wheel cost us in time lost, then I’m fully certain that a podium would have been on the books.”
The podium was most probably also the target on Sunday, but here also matters went amiss. “It was wet, but it had stopped raining”, is how Enzo Ide described the conditions just before the start. “We opted for slicks, partly a gamble, and that proved to be less positive. I started from the wet side of the track, on the left, and immediately lost quite a few places due to my slicks not having any grip on the cold and wet track. Following on from that I should have remained calm, but instead I went into the attack and made a mistake. In fact in these types of conditions you need to keep a cool head, and for that you require experience, something I still need to improve on. Following my mistake I finally found the right rhythm, but seconds had been lost…. On top of that my teammate was nudged off the track during his stint, so our eleventh place turned out to be a windfall. We have learned our lessons here and will carry on with our World Championship campaign in Spain. Many thanks to all those who came on down to Circuit Zolder to support me!”
Source : Enzo Ide