Eric Dermont, Franck Perera and Henry Hassid did a good race for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series held at Silverstone. At the end, the #12 BMW Z3 GT4 finished 6th in the Pro Am category and the team scored its first points of the season…
The Silverstone track is a good memory for Franck Perera and Eric Dermont. Indeed this is where they won the first round of the European Le Mans Series in GTC category with the BMW more than one month ago. The three drivers were among the front runners at the first free session with the fastest time in Pro Am (3rd overall).
They did the same in the afternoon, signing the quickest time of the category once again whilst grabbing the 2nd place overall. On Saturday, during the qualifying session, the rain came to confuse the issue. Because of tough conditions, Franck Perera could only set the third fastest time in Pro Am (14th overall)
Henry Hassid started from the 7th row of the grid and was 18th (4th in Pro Am) once the rushes of the first corners avoided. Stuck in a group of ten cars, the classification of the car often changed but at the end of his stint, Henry was 20th.
After 1 hour on track, he went back to the pit and handed over to Eric Dermont. Back on track at the 32th overall, 9th in Pro Am, he quickly gained three places. All throughout his limpid stint, he kept his position without and then handed over to Franck Perera, 65 minutes before the end of the race.
Back at the 36th place (11th in Pro Am), he was immediately in the pace. He set the same lap times as the leaders. At the beginning of his stint, he was 1 minutes and 30 seconds behind them and, at the end, only 20 seconds! As a result, he caught up the 25th place. Franck did not give up and he even overtook a car in the latest corners. He crossed the finishing line at the 22nd place overall, 6th in the Pro Am category. The three men and the team scored their first points at the championship.
Now, the team is going to have a one month break and then, TDS Racing will be back on 20th June for a 6 hour race (or 1000 kms) on the Paul Ricard track, in France.
2015 Calendar:
June 20th: Le Castellet (for a 1000 kilometre race)
July 25th-26th: 24 Hours of Spa (Belgium)
September 20th: Nurburgring (Germany).
Eric Dermont: « The race was quite good because we finished 6th, at the podium’s doors. But, we are not fully satisfied either because we would like to be better ranked. The level in Blancpain Endurance Series is high. We have to be more rigorous in our approach and in the way we manage our stints. The car is good, so is the team. Everything depends on our work. We are not far from it, we have to work more.
The race of Monza was quickly stopped for us another car bumped into me. Had we finished that first race, we could have put things into perspective in this round of Silverstone. But that is motor racing. We have to raise our level and we are going to follow this direction with Franck. There is no reason it does not work!”