This year’s FIA GT3 European Championships ended with a home race on the Nuerburgring for team rhino’s Leipert Motorsport. During the last two races, the German/Austrian duo David Mengesdorf and Hari Proczyk were fighting for positions among the top 3 in the orange/black Lamborghini Gallardo, and in the end they secured third place in the overall ranking of the European Championships with positions six and two.
rhino’s Leipert Motorsport had good chances for an even better result, and Mengesdorf and his second place gave a solid foundation for more at the beginning of the first race, but unfortunately, the mechanics noticed a slow puncture during the driver change and had to change the tire which resulted in a drop back for the duo to position 6. One day later, they finished the race in second place. In the overall ranking, they were only five points behind the runner-up.
Still, this was an impressive performance by rhino’s Leipert Motorsport and their two drivers Mengesdorf and Proczyk, as they hadn’t participated in the first two races in contrast to their competitors. From ten races in which they had participated, they gained a podium position eight times and therefore set a remarkable record in the championships!
The second Lamborghini was driven by Czech Eduard Leganov and Finn Marko Vähämäki on the Nuerburgring who finished Saturday’s race in position eight. On Sunday, Vähämäki unfortunately didn’t get to finish the race due to an accident in the second lap.
Ingo Leipert, Team Manager of rhino’s Leipert Motorsport, commented: “Third place in the overall driver and team ranking is a good result in any case and surely one of the highlights of this year. We mustn’t forget that David and Hari did not participate in all races. Still, it is a pity that we missed second place narrowly. Despite the tire damage, I cannot slag down Pirelli tires. One week prior, we were racing with Yokohama tires on the Nuerburgring at the ADAC GT Masters and were 2.1 seconds slower”!
Next weekend, team rhino’s Leipert Motorsport will travel to the Hockenheimring to participate in the season final of the ADAC GT Masters.
Source : rhino’s Leipert Motorsport