The start of the season of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza had some nerve-wracking moments for Team rhino’s Leipert Motorsport. Both Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3 finished the race prematurely in the pit. The driver trio of car No. 7 – Olivier Tielemans (NL), Mika Vähämäki (FIN) and Niki Lanik (AUS) – had to abandon the car with a ripped off, defect front splitter. The Lamborghini with No. 6, driven by Ricardo Bravo, Duarte Felix Da Costa und Lourenço Beirão da Veiga (all from Portugal), had to be abandoned in the last hour of the race due to problems with the brakes whilst holding 8th place of the total ranking.
The week-end started quite promising for the team when the six drivers all had good training timings, although the drivers still had to adjust to the new circuit and the Lamborghini. On top of that, the team changed a driver of the vehicle with No. 7. Arnaud Peyroles was simply too tall, and so Austrian Niki Lanik stepped in for him on short notice. Team Manager Ingo Leipert explained: “The three registered drivers didn’t harmonize from point of view of their total height. This is a big problem since the seat cannot be adjusted in the Lamborghini.”
During qualifying on Sunday morning, the Lamborghini with No. 7 qualified for starting position 16 whilst the one with No. 6 qualified for starting position 18. However, both drivers Vähämäki and Bravo used the beginning of the race at Sunday noon and made up for lost ground during the first rounds. After half an hour, Vähämäki made it to the pit in slow drive. The front splitter was ripped off during contact with a competitor, and, unfortunately, there was not sufficient time to repair the Lamborghini.
Meanwhile, the other Lamborghini had made it into the Top 10. However, 30 minutes before the end of the race, braking fluid was lost on the left, front brake, and so the team decided to keep the car in the pit. After the race, Leipert said: “These results are quite annoying since the drivers showed good performances. We surely could have reached a podium place with No. 7, and the second car could surely have finished in 6th or 7th place.”
The next race of the Blancpain Endurance Series takes place in Navarra, Spain, on 22nd May 2011. For Team rhino’s Leipert, however, the forthcoming week-end will already be exiting again. On 24th and 25th April 2011, they are going to race in the start of the ADAC GT Masters Series at Oschersleben, Germany.
Source : Leipert Motorsport