Enzo Ide performed to the best of his abilities during the GT World Championship and the Blancpain Endurance Series on the legendary Nürburgring, but unfortunately a flat tyre and a technical breakdown withheld him from claiming a strong result. Enzo Ide and Francesco Castellacci recorded a seventh place in the GT World Championship, whilst Jack Gerber, Marco Cioci and Enzo Ide were forced to retire early on in the German round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. Enzo Ide still has two meetings up his sleeve, namely the final round of the GT World Championship next weekend at Donington followed by the last race of the Blancpain Endurance Series in Navarra, scheduled for mid-October.
WK GT: bad luck on hand
In the GT World Championship lady luck was not on hand for the West-Flanders based driver, sharing the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia drive with the European GT3 champion Francesco Castellacci. During the first race the duo finished tenth, after a catch-up race, whilst on Sunday they saw a strong result go up in smoke as the result of a flat tyre.
On Saturday we experienced a fair amount of problems trying to get our tyres up to temperature”, Enzo Ide commented. “Notwithstanding that I was able to qualify for Q2, but Francesco missed out by less than two hundredths to compete in Q3, which consisted in going for pole. Starting as ninth as opposed to starting out from nearer the front of this field is quite a difference. Our race was far from easy and achieving anything better than a tenth place wasn’t on the books.”
Sunday’s race would hopefully prove to be better. Enzo Ide took a perfect start, and it looked as though a place in the top-5 was feasible, however a flat tyre just after the driver change-over once again ruined any hopes of a great performance. “But even so we still managed a 7th place, enough to score a few World Championship points…. What more can I say than the fact that this World Championship season hasn’t been favourable for us”, was Enzo Ide’s philosophical remark. “We’ve been through a difficult campaign this year, which had started off reasonably well, but unfortunately hounded by bad luck all the way through after that. I have progressed enormously during this disappointing season, but this also makes you a better sports person. Who knows, perhaps during the last races at Donington our luck might change. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our teammates Toni Vilander and Filip Salaquarda for their victory, the first one for our team this year!”
Source : Enzo Ide