Following a 2012 season with Ferrari in the GT World Championship Enzo Ide has taken on a double assignment in 2013. The young West Flanders based driver competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series with Phoenix Audi, a championship that saw the final round this last weekend at the Nürburgring. There are still two races of the FIA GT Series on the books this season, always teamed up with fellow countryman Anthony Kumpen. During the entire season the German GT1 World Champion Markus Winkelhock was their regular teammate during the longer races. The fifth and final race of the Blancpain Endurance Series, namely the Blancpain 1000 on the German Nürburgring, looked as though it would turn out to be an excellent fifth place for them, but once again mechanical problems with their Audi R8 LMS Ultra put a stop to this. “As was the case at Zolder, during the 24 Hours, we have lost out on another great result. The gearbox broke, with only a few minutes remaining, just as we were lying in a strong fifth place”, a clearly disappointed Enzo Ide commented. “I’m truly displeased.”
This weekend Enzo Ide probably produced one of the strongest performances of the entire season in Germany, with fast lap times, an excellent performance during the qualifying and vying for a great top-5 in the highest GT championship in the world. The young West Flanders driver had been showing great promise to be amongst the top players and this last weekend he was on top form. Enzo Ide can now definitely claim his place at the top of his speciality, namely GT racing.
Enzo Ide: “This weekend our car was perfect and I felt comfortable at the wheel. Both during qualifying, with a spot up front during my session, as also later on during the race I believe I performed well. I would like to thank the team for the trust they placed in me, as I was allowed to take the start, not an easy assignment in a field of 50 equivalent cars. In fact you only need to look at the pictures of the first lap here at the Nürburgring and you will see at least five cars next to the track. I put on the pressure, together with my teammates, which resulted at a given moment that we were heading up towards the top-3. Our car was running well, and it looked as tough we were in for a great result …”
Unfortunately the Phoenix Audi R8 LMS Ultra had other ideas. A mere 20 minutes from the finish Enzo Ide’s lap times showed that there was a problem, and a few moments later the Audi appeared in the pit lane and immediately went into … the box.
Enzo Ide: “This definitely isn’t a pleasant way of ending the season … only three weeks ago I saw victory snatched from us during the 24 Hours of Zolder as the result of a technical problem and now once again. We have now missed out on a fifth place in this European Championship race, no, I’m absolutely not happy with what happened here. These cars are supposed to race for longer than five an a half hours …”