The GT Pro Series loves a diverse calendar and no clearer is this demonstrated than the transition from Round 4’s tight and twisty Loch Drummond to Round 5’s expansive Spa-Francorchamps. The Belgian circuit is known for its power sensitivity and thus the Corvettes, BMWs and Aston Martins of the grid were expected to go strong.
Potentially a tough night in prospect, then, for Jernej Simončič who with drop scores now applied lost the lead of the championship last time out to Jiri Toman who sits 1 point ahead of him.
Qualifying
Corvettes locked out the front row with Jakub ‘Kuba’ Brzezinski claiming an unlikely pole position given his form this season. Speaking of the topic, Risto Kappet would join him – the Estonian having suffered a tragically unfulfilling season so far with good pace often undone by incident.
Kevin Siggy picked up a second consecutive P3 start in the Sprint, whilst Burst Esports’ Dawid Mroczek put in a stellar performance to sit just behind his title fighting teammate in fourth. Toman meanwhile would be less successful, languishing in P14.
Sprint Race
The start was punchy with pole position not often the place you actually want to start at Spa. Nevertheless, Brzezinski waved off an early Kappet challenge whilst behind Simončič wrestled third off Siggy. More pain was on the way for the Austro-Slovenian as the following lap he was mobbed by both Mroczeck and Alex Siebel down the Kemmel Straight.
As Siggy kept falling backwards, Kappet only had eyes on the up performing a sensational pass around the outside of Turn 9 to leave Brzezinski and viewers stunned. Into the dying embers of the race, Mroczek finally completed a pass on Simončič that had been coming. Yet again more points were lost when the team could have said otherwise.
But for Risto Kappet the curse had finally been broken. A fantastic win for Estonia’s coolest ahead of Brzezinski and a first podium of the season for Mroczek.
- Risto Kappet – 7 Laps
- Jakub Brzezinski
- David Mroczek
- Jernej Simončič
- Alex Siebel
- Dennis Jordan
- Marcell Csincsik
- Yuri Kasdorp
- Ibraheem Khan
- Kasper Stolze
Main Race
On reverse grid pole position and the Fordzilla Porsche of Nuno Pinto alongside him for the start, Dennis Jordan would have been forgiven for early confidence heading into the Feature Race. Lo and behold, everyone was shocked to see the Portuguese leading the race after Les Combes. Such was the inherent straight line speed of the C8 however that one lap later it was the German ahead once more.
The situation behind the podium places was utterly engaging for the first ten minutes. Ibraheem Khan exchanging places with Siebel twice over and Brzezinski finding a move on Simončič. But madness would ensue with a victim of Eau Rouge, Nikodem Wisniewski, as the field came up on the lapped backmarker. Ever the wise, old fox, the Williams driver used his teammate’s interference to slip through on Khan and up to sixth whilst Mroczek also benefited up to 5th.
Further up the road, Pinto’s pace was beginning to plateau and with Jordan romping off into the distance it was time for Csincsik to act. Two bites of the cherry was all it took to make his way up into second with 28 minutes left. Next in line was Siebel but of interest behind him was Brzezinski and Kappet shooting off into the pits for the earliest stops of the front runners. If they were hoping for more Pinto heroics, they would have been disappointed to see both Siebel and Mroczek through by Les Combes.
Csincsik, Siebel and Pinto would make their play a couple of laps later but would be amazed to see Brzezinski comfortably ahead of all three! Simoncic had pitted the lap before and also gained net places. So powerful was the undercut that the Williams machine would take the net lead of the race once Jordan made his stop. Pinto on the other hand found himself down in 10th.
Toman had been struggling all round but his event was about to get worse with Kasper Stolze far too eager to recreate Hakkinen on Zonta and causing a spin for the championship leader. Though still in the race, Varga’s lead driver was now stuck in 17th. With Simončič up in sixth, following a Siebel pass into the final Chicane, it was as close to disaster as he could get.
Despite the excellent strategy call, Brzezinski’s pace simply wasn’t good enough to dissuade Jordan who retook the lead with 10 minutes to go. Once again, the Burst cars would switch positions with Simoncic selfless in letting Mroczek go. And Red Bull’s day got even better as Siebel deposed Sprint winner Kappet from fourth. Both successful drivers would find further rewards a lap later – Siebel now on the podium whilst Mroczek was through on Kappet too. Yuri Kasdorp also got in on the Kemmel Straight drafting, sending Simončič down another place to eighth.
But Dennis Jordan was always stretching his legs once the lead was his again, taking his first win of the season comfortably ahead of Brzezinski and Siebel.
- Dennis Jordan – 20 Laps
- Jakub Brzezinski
- Alex Siebel
- Marcell Csincsik
- David Mroczek
- Risto Kappet
- Yuri Kasdorp
- Jernej Simončič
- Nuno Pinto
- Ibraheem Khan
In Conclusion
It is anybody’s guess as to who will take the GT Pro crown in Season 4 now with the Red Bulls of Siebel and Jordan firmly in the mix alongside Simončič and Toman. If you want to find out who wins the title, be sure to join us one last time on Traxion.GG’s YouTube channel, 18th October 2021!
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