The fifth event of the International GT Open Championship took place in Paul Ricard, France. The Car Collection Motorsport team competed in both races with three Porsche 911 GT3 Rs. Despite some challenges and difficulties, the team managed to score important championship points with all three cars.
After the podium success of Gustav Bergström and Nico Menzel in the #15 Porsche at the last round, the Car Collection Motorsport team’s aim was to be among the front runners at the next event on the former Formula 1 circuit in Paul Ricard. However, difficult conditions and a challenging track awaited the field. The team struggled with these conditions right from the start, especially as the track in Le Castellet is not one of the Porsche 911 GT3 R’s favourite tracks.
The #7 car was driven by Bashar Mardini and Tijmen van der Helm, who returned to the Car Collection cockpit after his commitments in the IMSA series. On Saturday, Mardini drove the red Porsche to tenth place on the grid in the Pro-Am class. In the race, the Mardini/van der Helm duo improved by one position and crossed the finish line in ninth place. On Sunday, van der Helm only managed 17th place on the grid, from which the two drivers were able to improve to P8 during the race with a lot of effort and thus finish in the points.
The two drivers ‘Hash’ and Alex Fontana in the black Porsche with the #12 also experienced highs and lows. On Saturday, the duo started the race from 16th place in class and drove a faultless race to eighth place, which resulted in important championship points in the Pro-Am class. On Sunday, Alex Fontana once again showed his class and put the #12 in third place on the grid. In an attempt to move up even further in the race, he spun as a result of contact with an opponent. As a result, no more than 10th place in the Pro-Am class was possible.
The #15 Porsche, which again competed in the overall classification, was driven by Gustav Bergström and Nico Menzel, as it had been all season. The Swede Bergström put the Porsche in 15th place on the grid in a difficult qualifying session on Saturday. In the race, both drivers improved to 12th place. One day later, Nico Menzel was caught out by a rain shower at the wrong time in qualifying, which resulted in 11th place on the grid. With a strong performance, Menzel and Bergström drove up to eighth place in the high-class field in difficult weather conditions and scored valuable championship points.
With the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, the next Formula 1 circuit awaits the International GT Open Championship field after the summer break on 15 September.
Peter Schmidt, Team Principal: ‘That was a pretty tough weekend for us. We had to contend with various difficulties and tried to make the best of them. The team fought through it and we were able to improve significantly in the races. We will work hard during the summer break so that we can fully attack again in Spielberg.’
