Following a 2012 season with Ferrari in the GT World Championship Enzo Ide is now in 2013 taking on a brilliant double assignment. The young West Flanders based driver is competing with Phoenix Audi in both the Blancpain Endurance Series as also the FIA GT Series, teamed up with fellow countryman Anthony Kumpen and for the longer races the German GT1 world champion Markus Winkelhock. The second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, held on the technical Silverstone circuit, was a difficult meeting. Ide finished in ninth place in an incredibly strong competitor’s field, some 60 strong, but a mere two points was the best that the young West Flanders driver could manage. Notwithstanding that Ide, together with Anthony Kumpen and Markus Winkelhock have climbed up into fifth spot in this top rated endurance championship.
Enzo Ide was unable to realise the wished for result in Silverstone, where the second round of the European Endurance Championship was on the programme. The Phoenix Racing Audi R8 LMS Ultra was fully able to play up front, but was just lacking those few tenths of a second per lap to be able to fight it out for a podium place. The Belgian-German trio fought back from a seventh start grid to ninth place, in other words in front of 50 other GT3s, whereby for the sixth consecutive time this season Enzo Ide has scored points. This is also a performance in itself, proving speed and regularity.
Enzo Ide: “On the one hand we are always on the ball, with a good car and a strong strategy, but on the other hand we always seem to be floating around that fourth, fifth and now ninth spot. In the eyes of a championship that isn’t bad, but to truly finish up front we always seem to be lacking something. I wouldn’t be a sportsman if I didn’t always want to truly finish up front. The assignment now as from this evening, during the debriefing, over the race in Paul Ricard and the Spa test day, is to take the necessary steps allowing us to really play up front during the 24 Hours of Spa. We have the foundation, but similar to a football match we need to fine tune the finishing touches.”
The actual race in Silverstone started off with Enzo Ide taking the start from 13th place. The young West Flanders driver put in a strong race, was able to make up a few places and as such laid the foundation for the points scored after 180 minutes of racing.
Enzo Ide: “In the beginning I demanded too much from my tyres which is why I couldn’t get any more out of the car. Taking the start with the Audi is actually always a prickly point, because in comparison with the other cars our car lacks some power so you really need to floor it to keep up with the top players. This is turn reflects on the tyres. Apart from that we worked off a faultless race, with the known result.”
Source : Enzo Ide