With a brilliant win in the second race of the French round of the FIA GT3 European Championship, ProSpeed Competition has proved that they can fight back. On the Paul Ricard circuit, Paul van Splunteren and Maxime Soulet took their NEC Porsche 911 GT3-R to a thoroughly deserved victory, following on from clinching fifth place a day earlier notwithstanding “Stop&Go”. On Saturday Petri Lappalainen and Jan Heylen also scored, grabbing an eighth place. A collision in the second race, during an incredible climb up through the pack by Jan Heylen, resulted in the Belgian and the Finn having to throw in the towel with the #2 GrafiWrap & K-Rauta Porsche 911 GT3-R.
ProSpeed Competition also scored the most points of all the teams during this fourth leg of the highly contested FIA GT3 European Championship. Prior to the GT3 teams travelling on down to Bratislava for the fifth meeting of the season, ProSpeed Competition’s home circuit, Spa-Francorchamps, will set the stage for the 24 Hours of Spa in a fortnight’s time, where the world’s best GT3 teams will go head to head during 24 hours. This major race is also highlighted in red on ProSpeed Competition’s agenda.
The sporting viewpoint: Luc Goris (Technical Director)
“I’m obviously highly delighted with the result, being fully aware that Jan and Petri during the second race, had in not been for the accident, would have finished up front. Max and Paul’s victory is a windfall for the entire team, especially after all the hard work that was put in. We have progressed since Silverstone and could see that we were closing in on the top players. This progression curve has now resulted in a victory. We just missed out on a podium in the first race due to a “Stop&Go” due to a too short pit stop. The fact that Maxime admitted his error during the TV interviews shows the perfect attitude he has.”
Paul van Splunteren, Maxime Soulet’s team mate (Porsche 911 GT3-R #1)
“I always emphasized the fact that we needed to carry on working hard, notwithstanding the fact that at a certain moment our position appeared to be rather difficult. No doubt everyone will have had their doubts, but we reacted as a team and carried on working hard. Today that resulted in a win, an exceptionally deserved victory in fact. The car was perfect, the collaboration between Maxime and myself could not have been better, the team once again showed their pure professionalism and so you achieve this great result.”
Jan Heylen, Petri Lappalainen’s team mate (Porsche 911 GT3-R #2) “We still need to work on our speed during the qualifying sessions, even though we have progressed, but not quite sufficiently. We had the speed during the race, both on Saturday and Sunday, but unfortunately during my charge I was nudged forwards, resulting in our car having to retire.”
Source : ProSpeed Competition