Competition102 GT4 European Series paddock stories from Misano: new champions and a new car

Jelle Beelen and Marcel Nooren were crowned as PRO champions of the Competition102 GT4 European Series during the final race weekend at Misano World Circuit in Italy. The Dutch drivers ended the season in style with champagne on the podium. Earlier, Daniel Uckermann (GER) clinched the AM title at Nürburgring with ZaWotec’s winning KTM X-BOW GT4. That vehicle, jointly constructed by KTM Sportcar and Reiter Engineering, made its world debut at Circuit Park Zandvoort. The championship was honoured to host another new car during the final round as the Ekris M4 GT4 made its first successful appearance.

Consistency key for championship win

Beelen and Nooren are looking back at an excellent season with V8 Racing. Beelen, who made its GT4 race debut at the first round at Nogaro, was at first surprised by the results. That a win and a second place finish in France wasn’t a coincidence proved the driver pair at their home track at Circuit Park Zandvoort were they clinched another two podium finishes. From there they kept on collecting trophies. “After almost every race we’ve stepped onto the podium,” recalled Nooren and praised the teamwork and consistency. Beelen added: “It indeed has been an amazing season. Winning the championship feels very special as I didn’t expect that we would perform so well in my first year in the championship.”

Clutton delivers: first win with the Chevron GT4

Marcus Clutton arrived with the Chevron GT4 for the first time at Circuit Park Zandvoort. Clutton and his team used the series as a development ground, but expressed in our Zandvoort newsletter that he competes to win too. “Perhaps at Misano in the end of the year,” he said. After an eventful season he achieved his goal by winning dominantly in race one. “We’ve been working hard all year to get near the front, so this win feels amazing,” he described. “The development of the Chevron GT4 goes very well. Hopefully we can bring more improvements for 2016, just like everybody else is going to. And we push a bit on the money again next year. Hopefully we’ll be in this position at the beginning of the season throughout the end.”

Successful debut of the Ekris M4

The Ekris M4 GT4 made its race debut in the Competition102 GT4 European Series after almost one year of development. Visitors, teams, driver and the media were all curious about how the brand new race car, which is considered as a successor to the M3 GT4, would perform. “Everyone was thrilled to see the new car and they’re all confident that we will succeed,” said driver Ricardo van der Ende. Ekris Motorsport constructed and prepared a reliable car despite limited track time prior to the final race weekend at Misano World Circuit. “Actually it was our fifth test day,” van der Ende admitted. “But we are already as quick as the BMW M3 that has been developed for six years. So there is much to expect from us next year.”

Maserati drivers feel at home

Two Maserati’s GranTurismo MC joined the series at Misano World Circuit. Carlo and Lino Curti, two Italian brothers, shared one Maserati while the other one was piloted by Italian Patrick Zamparini and Canadian Barrie Baxter. The latter of the two driver pairs won race one in the AM category and was ranked second in the final race. “It was tough in the wet as we don’t have ABS and traction control like most others, so we’ve had to work hard,” Baxter commented. Both drivers enjoyed the atmosphere in the paddock and to race against other GT4 spec race cars. “It’s a nice championship and great to be in the middle of a field with so many different vehicles,” Zamparini added. “We will probably participate more often.”

6,700 euro collected for Project MinE

Some of the teams and drivers have received penalties during the race weekends, for example for exceeding the maximum speed in the pit lane. Such misbehaviours can result in a fine. Competition102 GT4 European Series decided to offer the generated income from fines to Project MinE, a foundation that conducts research to ALS. Over 6,700 euro has been collected and will be transferred to Project MinE. The foundation aims to contribute to discovering the cause and eventually a cure for ALS in the future by analysing the DNA of at least 15,000 ALS patients and 7,500 control subjects. The resulting 22,500 DNA profiles will be compared and studied.