The Belgian Audi Club Team WRT left its mark at the season-opener of the Blancpain Endurance Series in Monza, thanks to the podium finish of Albuquerque-Longin- Ortelli, who came in 2nd. The Belgian squad is determined to confirm its excellent start of the season in the forthcoming Round 2 of the series, on the twisty circuit of Navarra, in Spain.
The start of the season of WRT has been impressive : entering its Audis R8 LMS in four different international and national series, the Belgian squad sees one of its cars in the second spot of the provisional standings of each of those championships. «Second in the Blancpain Endurance Series, second in the FIA-GT3, second in the Belcar Endurance Championship and second in the French GT Tour : not bad at all for a start ! » comments Team Manager Vincent Vosse, «But, as you can imagine, we really want to climb that last step before the end of the season… In the Blancpain Endurance Series, this will be our objective this coming week-end, with the Albuquerque-Longin-Ortelli team. After their second place at Monza, their mission will be to score as many points as possible in Navarra, while keeping in mind they absolutely need to finish the race. The strategy will be a little bit different for the other car and Franchi-Fässler-Piccini. Following the tire punctures they suffered in Italy, their objective will be to reduce the gap with the leading teams before going to Spa-Francorchamps for the Total 24 Hours. »
Clearly, the Total 24 Heures de Spa are already in everybody’s thoughts at the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. «Beside the importance of scoring points for the Blancpain championship, it is obvious this race in Navarra will serve for the team as a rehearsal for the end-of-July’s big race », adds Vincent Vosse.
Making his endurance debut this year, young Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque, associated with Stéphane Ortelli and Bert Longin, will continue in Spain his learning of endurance racing. « Monza was really a fantastic experience », says Audi’s DTM driver. « Except for the puncture, it was a perfect race. We are therefore very motivated for the next round in Navarra and the rest of the season. We had the opportunity to test there and I must say I quite liked the circuit. It’s quite a twisty track, we never get to the sixth gear with our Audi R8 LMS, but I think it will offer interesting races. For us, it will be essential to score heavy points. »
Fully motivated by last week-end’s win in the FIA GT1, Andrea Piccini also aims at the podium in Spain, together with team mates Greg Franchi and Marcel Fässler. « In Monza we clearly had the pace to stay with the leaders, but we couldn’t materialize that into a good result”, says the Italian. « We are definitely seeking for revenge in Spain. Personally, I don’t know the circuit but that shouldn’t be a big issue. The team is very professional and well organized, it would be great to be able to offer them a podium finish on Sunday.”
The 3-hour race in Navarra will start at 13:15 hours and the race will be broadcasted live on the Blancpain Endurance Series website.
Source : Belgian Audi Club WRT