GT4 Championships

Frankenhout wins Dutch GT4 title at Zandvoort

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The final race weekend of the 2009 Dutch GT Championship ended with three different manufacturers winning a race and provided the teams and spectactors with a real spectacle. Even though Christiaan Frankenhout secured the title in Saturday’s race, the two remaining race were full of action from start to finish. A fitting end of a successful inaugural Dutch GT4 season.

Race 1

Christiaan Frankenhout was unable to convert his pole position into a win on Saturday at the Formido Finale Races at Zandvoort. Frankenhout dropped to third place at the start, while Paul van Splunteren managed to get into first place.

Unfortunately for Van Splunteren he demanded too much of his tyres and when he then made a mistake while shifting gears at the Audi S corner. As a result Ricardo van der Ende (Ekris Motorsport BMW) was able to get his BMW next to the Porsche. Van Splunteren decided not to defend and allowed Van der Ende to move into the lead.

Van der Ende seized the opportunity and quickly started to get away from the rest of the field. After fourteen laps the BMW driver crossed the line in first place, over four seconds clear of the Porsche 997 GT4 of Van Splunteren. Christiaan Frankenhout took third place, enough to secure the Dutch GT4 title. The Maserati GranTurismo MC, making its debut in the Dutch GT4 Championship this weekend finished in fourth place in race 1. The other new car, the Donkervoort D8GT, was thirteenth.

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Race 2

In race two the Corvettes of Henry Zumbrink and Danny van Dongen started from the front row and kept first and second places throughout the race. Duncan Huisman was unable to repeat his teammates performance when his bonnet came loose and slammed onto his windscreen on the opening lap.

Further down the field the battle for sixth place started with several drivers closing in on the Aston Martin of Jan-Joris Verheul. In lap 8 Simon Knap tried to overtake Verheul, but instead of moving up he was passed by Melroy Heemskerk in the #64 Corvette.
The battle went on with the group coming onto the straight three wide, with Knap retaking his position. From behind more cars joined the battle.

Behind the battling group and the two leaders Ferdinand Kool battled with Phil Bastiaans for third place. Zumbrink closed in on leader Van Dongen and by lap 11 he was within a second of the lead again, but that was as close as he would get.

Two laps before the end Knap tried to pass Verheul for sixth place, but the BMW driver tried to dive into a non-existing gap and rather than passing Verheul Knap was touched by Heemskerk’s Corvette and spun at the Audi S. Tim Buijs was hit by Bas Schothorst in the penultimate lap, puncturing the rear tyre on the BMW.

After 14 laps Danny van Dongen took the win for Racing Team Holland, 1.657 seconds ahead of Zumbrink and 16.557 seconds ahead of Rory Bertram in a Porsche. However, Bertram was later excluded because of a technical infringement, promoting Phil Bastiaans into third place.

Race 3

The feature race, which was aired live on Dutch television for the first time, started with Henry Zumbrink leading into the first corner. Danny van Dongen did not start race 2, his team excluded from the race after an accident involving Bernhard van Oranje earlier in the weekend. Zumbrink managed to maintain his lead for only a couple of laps before the Aston Martin Vantage of Jan-Joris Verheul made his move. One lap later it was Paul Meijer who overtook Zumbrink as well, making it a 1-2 for Aston Martin. Zumbrink tried to retake the position at the end of the straight, but Meijer kept the Corvette behind.

The Scuderia Corse Maserati GranTurismo MC in the hands of Nicky Pastorelli was impressive. Pastorelli passed other cars as if they were parked, but a repeat of the first race was impossible with the mandatory pit stop and driver change yet to come.

Verheul and Meijer continued to battle, both cars about half a second apart from each other. Bumper on bumper they went into the pit lane and bumper on bumper they went out again not much later. Paul Meijer was more aggresive coming out of the pit, too aggresive as he crossed the white line on his way out. Into the Tarzan corner Meijer moved into the lead, but Verheul never let go of Meijer and by the time the two cars were at the Audi S corner Verheul moved back into the lead.

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The close battle between Meijer and Verheul was effectively ended when Meijer was given a drive through penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit. Meijer decided to stay out for as long as possible.

On the final lap the Speedlover Porsche seemed to miss his braking point and tapped the back of Christiaan Frankenhout’s Porsche at the end of the straight. The PS Autosport Porsche brushed the wall on the inside before coming to a halt in the gravel, the Speedlover car going head-first into the barrier.

At the front Jan-Joris Verheul crossed the line, taking victory in the final round of the 2009 season. Paul Meijer went into the pit, which meant Kool inherited second place. Even though Meijer was classified in third at first his decision to come in on the final lap turned meant he dropped out of the top three. Simon Knap was promoted to third place.

After the race Paul Meijer was excluded from the reslts. On the last lap of the race the light on the pit lane entry had gone red and by entering the pit lane Meijer had made another illegal move. The decision to come in as late as possible therefore resulted in an exclusion from the race.

As the chequered flag was shown it also signalled the end of the first season. The first season of Dutch GT4 had its problems at the opening rounds of the season, with regulations changing at each race it seemed, but gradually changed into a proper top class in Dutch racing. Even though certain aspects of the series could be improved the future looks good for the championship. Stéphane Ratel, who visited Zandvoort on Sunday, must be satisfied with what he saw on track on Sunday…