24 Hours of Spa: Two HTP Motorsport cars finish in the top 10 Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, July, 27th: One car retires, two score top 10 places: The HTP Motorsport team achieved an impressive result in the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. Last years winners put in a fantastic performance at the “Ardennes rollercoaster”, only five weeks after contesting another endurance challenge, the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Finishing fifth, Maximilian Götz, Maximilian Buhk and Jazeman Jaafar from Malaysia at the wheel of the gull-winged Mercedes-Benz SLS claimed the best result for the outfit from Saarbrücken-Ensheim, Germany. Bernd Schneider, Harold Primat and Belgian driver Nico Verdonck took ninth place. Unfortunately, the two Dutchmen Stef Dusseldorp and Xavier Maassen and Sergei Afanasiev from Russia had to retire early from a promising position. “We did our very best. The whole team pushed their limits again. We would like to thank everybody involved. They deserve our respect. We can be very pleased with two top 10 finishes. Unfortunately our car #85 had to retire from a good position. Congratulations to the winning Audi team,” said HTP Team Principal Norbert Brückner. The three gull-winged HTP cars claimed promising positions in the crucial qualifying session. Grabbing third, the trio Dusseldorp, Afanasiev and Maassen put in the most impressive performance. Schneider, Primat and Verdonck achieved a good seventh position in the fourth row. Unexpectedly, Buhk, Götz and Jaafar were quite far down the order in start position 20. The largest GT3 race of the world kicked off at 4.30 on Saturday afternoon. The extraordinary endurance test for men and machine is the highlight of the season of the Blancpain Endurance Series (BES). The 90th edition of the race saw a chaotic first part, with numerous accidents happening between the second a sixth hour. The safety car came out four times and the race was also interrupted once by the red flag. Unfortunately, a HTP Mercedes was involved in one of the incidents after the start. As many as five cars had to retire after a collision at the exit of Eau Rouge following the third re-start. As a result, the race was finished after only three hours for Xavier Maassen at the wheel of the Lukoil SLS #85 and his team-mates Dusseldorp and Afanasiev. The two other HTP cars successfully finished the race. Maximilian Götz and Maximilian Buhk, who won the 2013 edition at Spa, and 21-year old Jazeman Jaafar from Malaysia had moved up to sixth place after seven hours. The three drivers were four laps behind the overall winners in the Audi (527 laps). Last years winner, Bernd Schneider, who celebrated his 50th birthday a week earlier, 39-year old Swiss Harold Primat and local Belgian driver Nico Verdonck (28) in the gull-winged SLS #84 finished ninth, nine laps behind the winning car. The record DTM championship winner and AMG ambassador Schneider scored the fastest lap of the race. HTP Motorsport is currently fourth in the BES team ranking, having scored 66 points. The BES and the Blancpain Sprint Series (BSS) are separate and independent championships within the Blancpain GT Series. The final round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series will take place at Nürburgring (6-hour race) from September 19th to 21st. Internet: htp-motorsport.de
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:15:19 +0000
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