Marc Basseng Press Release
The German race driver Marc Basseng from Rosenbach (Saxony) scored his first podium placing at the Blancpain GT Series on Sunday (25th of May). He finished third at the second season event of the Blancpain Endurance Series with the three hour race of Silverstone together with his team colleagues Cesar Ramos (Brazil) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. Vanthoor secured the podium placing on the 5.891 km long traditional track perfectly with an overtaking manoeuvre in the last lap. Winners of the race have been the drivers of a Bentley Continental GT3 ahead a McLaren MP4-12C.
"That is all we could reach in this race. The two frontrunners have been too fast and too far away already“, Marc Basseng said, who started from position ten in the field of more than 40 cars and sat behind the wheel for the first hour. "The start was very close and a lot of yellow flags were shown as well – it has not been easy to get through there. I don’t really remember the position I have been on when I consigned the car. Anyway, the team did a great job with fast pit stops and made the podium placing possible“, the 35 year old said, who is on overall position five together with Ramos and Vanthoor at the rankings of the Blancpain Endurance Pro Cup at the moment. At the season opening in Monza (Italy, 13th of April) the trio finished fourth.
In Silverstone, the typical English weather caused a little bit of trouble at the free practice on Saturday (24th of May) and at the Qualifying on Sunday. "It rained so hard at the first free practice that we have not been able to drive at all and at the second session the track still has been very wet“, Marc Basseng said. The FIA GT1 world champion of 2012 has been the first driver of the trio in Q1 the day after on the wet track and reached position three. But then the track dried out more and more and when Laurens Vanthoor came on track with new tires, the red flag signalized the abortion of the Q3. "Unlucky for us, we couldn’t improve our time anymore. But in the end we fought hard during the race and finished third.“
Photo credit: Belgian Audi Club
