Armaan rounds off FIA GT week-end with 2nd podium
Zandvoort (Netherlands), 7 July 2013: Indian racing driver Armaan Ebrahim and BMW Sports Trophy Team India rounded off their strongest weekend of the 2013 FIA GT World Series at the Zandvoort Circuit with a third place finish in the Pro-Am category and tenth overall.
Having scored their maiden podium by finishing second on Saturday, the team was on their way to go one better today but a delay during the driver change threw a spanner in the works, according to a Meco Motorsports Press Release.
“We were really on it today, the car was really strong and we could have won the class and finished top five overall”, said Armaan, hinting disappointment at the final outcome.
Armaan started the race from ninth position but like on Saturday, a huge incident on the opening lap led the race being red-flagged. The restart saw him holding his position and challenging the train of cars ahead.
But his attention was focused as much on the car behind as it was ahead, with nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb in his McLaren MP4-12C breathing down Armaan’s rear bumper.
“I could see him coming in the mirrors but I had enough pace in the bag to keep him behind and was focusing on passing the cars right ahead of me”, he revealed.
But the BMW Z4 GT’s inherent lack of straight line speed prevented him from passing the Nissan GT-R and Mercedes SLS lying close ahead of him, despite the BMW holding an advantage around the rest of the 4.3-kilometer layout.
“Coming off the final corner, I just couldn’t stay with them, slipstream or no. It has been a weak area and even though there aren’t many long straights here, it still managed to hamper us”, revealed Armaan.
Having held Loeb off for the length of his stint, Armaan pitted for the mandatory driver change on lap 14, but disaster was in store.
“As soon as I tried to unbuckle [the seatbelt] myself, it refused to release despite repeated efforts. Then we had the crew on it and it took forever for me to come out and buckle Melroy [teammate] back in”, he said.
While this drama was unfolding in the pitlane, the team was steadily dropping down the order and lost nearly five positions by the time Heemskerk got back on the track.
There onwards, the team’s race was just an exercise in damage limitation and the Danish driver did his best to claw back lost time, but simply ran out of laps to get back up the order significantly, ultimately finishing tenth overall and third in the Pro-Am class.
“It is quite disappointing to be honest, given what we were capable of this weekend. But I’m happy that after a difficult start to the season, we’ve managed to turn a corner”, commented Armaan.
“We need to improve a bit on the pitstop front as well as sort out the straightline speed deficit. Next two tracks on the calendar – Slovakia Ring and Navarra are more straightline-dependent and we’ll be at more of a disadvantage than we were here at Zandvoort”, he cited.
The next round of the FIA GT Series is scheduled at Slovakia Ring on 17-18 August.
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