GT4 Championships

Dutch GT4 Championship: Porsche 1-2 in race 2

© Planetlemans – Frank Feenstra

The second race of the Dutch GT4 Championship started started at 10.15 am. Grey skies and fog surrounding the Zandvoort circuit greeted the spectators on this Monday morning for the second sprint race of the opening weekend of the championship.

Paul Vahstal stalled his Aston Martin on the grid, but fortunately all other cars managed to avoid him. The fog thickened and visibility was very poor in the early stages of the race. Paul van Splunteren in the Porsche 997 GT4 had a great start and was already two seconds clear of the rest after just one lap.

The opening laps were quite hectic. Racing Team Holland had a dramatic start when Bernhard van Oranje came into the box after completing just one lap, a lap later Pieter-Christiaan van Oranje made a mistake and spun his Mustang into the gravel trap at the Tarzan corner. Rory Bertram in the Speedlover Porsche went wide in the Gerlach corner and nearly clipped the wall at the hairpin. Fortunately for Bertram he did not hit anything.

At the front the Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven Porsche 997 GT4 was still just over two seconds ahead of the group following him. Four cars were within a second of each other with Allard Kalff (Mustang) and Duncan Huisman (BMW M3) quickly getting to the front.

Halfway the race Van Splunteren’s lead had not increased a bit and despite heavy fighting the group behind him slowly got back. After eight laps Kalff, Huisman and Engel came onto the finish straight three wide, but Kalff kept his head cool and kept the lead as the three cars came out of the first corner again.

Frankenhout kept setting faster lap times and with just over five minutes remaining the gap between the two Porsches had gone back to only one second. Behind the two Porsches the battle for third was far from over with the BMW and Ginetta using their tyre advantage and the Mustang using its engine power. Lap after lap the cars were trailing, with Kalff having big problems keeping the BMW behind him.

Unfortunately for Kalff his race ended too soon when his car suddenly slowed on the track with just under two laps remaining. Kalff was forced to park his Mustang on the side of the road. Further down the road Bertus Sanders (Ginetta) and Ferdinand Kool (BMW Z4) came together and both retired in the pit.

Van Splunteren managed to keep his lead all the way to the chequered flag and after fourteen laps he scored the first Porsche win of the season. Frankenhout crossed the line just 0.332s behind Van Splunteren and completed a Porsche 1-2. Huisman took third place in his BMW M3 GT4.

Friday’s winner, the Corvette C6 #64, wasn’t able to repeat this result. Peter van der Kolk finished the race in fifteenth place.

The third race of the weekend, over 50 minutes, will start at 2.00 pm this afternoon.

Result Race 2:

1. #1 Paul van Splunteren – Team Bilderberg Porsche Eindhoven – Porsche 997 GT4
2. #27 Christiaan Frankenhout – PS Autosport – Porsche 997 GT4
3. #18 – Duncan Huisman – Ekris Motorsport – BMW M3 GT4
4. #14 Quint Engel – Match Racing – Ginetta G50
5. #7 – Pim van Riet – Rhesus Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT4
6. #88 – Simon Knap – KTG Racing – BMW M3 GT4
7. #3 – Mikko Heino – Madeno Racing – Aston Martin N24
8. #11 – Donny Crevels – Speedlover – Aston Martin N24
9. #19 – Tim Buijs – Team Bleekemolen – BMW M3 GT4
10. #8 – Paul Vahstal – Rhesus Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT4
11. #12 – Rory Bertram – Cosmo Hairstyling – Porsche 997 GT4
12. #50 – Lev Fridman – JAR Motorsport – BMW M3 GT4
13. #15 – Mark Kroes – Match Racing – Ginetta G50
14. #63 – Harmen van Putten – Certainty Racing Team by Day V Tec – Corvette C6
15. #64 Peter van der Kolk – Certainty Racing Team by Day V Tec – Corvette C6
16. #21 – Niels Bouwhuis – KS Motorsport – Ginetta G50
17. #16 – Ferdinand Kool – deheeg.nl – BMW Z4
18. #22 – Bertus Sanders – KS Motorsport – Ginetta G50
19. #2 – Allard Kalff – Tachyon Motorsport – Mustang FR500C
DNF #20 – Robert den Otter – Gravity Racing – Corvette C6
DNF #9 – Pieter Christiaan van Oranje – Racing Team Holland – Mustang FR500C
DNF #10 – Bernhard van Oranje – Racing Team Holland – Mustang FR500C