Estre and van Lagen make it two wins out of two at Zandvoort

• Estre and van Lagen win Sunday’s rain-affected ADAC GT Masters race
• Porsche duo finish ahead of three Audi R8s in atrocious conditions
• Herbert Handlos notches up another victory in the Gentlemen stakes

Local Zandvoort favourite Jaap van Lagen (37) and French partner Kévin Estre (25) recorded a second victory of the weekend in their shared Porsche 911. After winning a rain-affected Race 1 on Saturday, the GW IT Racing Team // Schütz Motorsport duo claimed a second winner’s trophy in the second equally wet race of the weekend on Sunday afternoon. South Africa’s Kelvin van der Linde (17) and René Rast (27) from Frankfurt in a Prosperia C Abt Audi R8 finished second, thereby securing a fourth podium appearance in as many races. Fabian Hamprecht (18) and Denmark’s Nicki Thiim (25) in another Prosperia Audi completed the podium party. “In really difficult conditions this weekend, we had a perfectly balanced car, plus of course the necessary element of luck,” said a jubilant van Laagen who now leads the drivers’ championship after four races.

Van Lagen seizes lead from pole-sitter Rast

Jaap van Lagen used his knowledge of the circuit to best advantage at the start of Race 2 as the weekend’s appalling weather continued. From fourth on the grid, the Dutchman overtook the PIXUM Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 driven by Austria’s Dominik Baumann on Lap 1 and then passed Nicki Thiim’s Audi R8 one lap later. Van Lagen’s next target on his home track was race leader René Rast. Rast und van Lagen slugged it out lap after lap for the lead before van Lagen pulled off a neat passing manoeuvre on the outside of Turn 1. From that moment on, there was no holding back the yellow-and-black Porsche, and when the time came to hand over to team-mate Kévin Estre, the gap to the pursuing pack was a healthy 2.4 seconds. As the rain continued to beat down, the Frenchman then proceeded to extend the lead, ultimately crossing the line 8.3 seconds ahead of van der Linde and Rast.

“Two victories in my home race – that’s just incredible,” said a delighted van Lagen. “In the first stint, I really benefited from my familiarity with the track, which helped me to take a different racing line through the wet than the opposition. That’s what enabled me to go past René Rast and take the lead. It was a fabulous passing move, and he conducted himself very fairly.”

Kévin Estre: “Jaap did a fantastic job in the first half of the race and handed over the Porsche in the lead. On my first few laps, I was probably too cautious, which allowed the Audis to get a bit closer. The team told me that my lead was getting smaller, so then I pushed harder and opened up the gap again. It was more straightforward than in yesterday’s race, because all I had to do was manage my pace over the final phase, and also I didn’t have any attacking to do.”

Strong team showing from Prosperia C Abt Racing

Van der Linde and Rast were at the vanguard of an impressive team performance from Prosperia C Abt Racing at Zandvoort. The three Audi R8s entered by the team championship title holders monopolised second, third and fourth places. Having briefly run second after the mandatory pit stop, Hamprecht and Thiim finished third, while Christer Jöns (26) and Markus Winkelhock (33) narrowly missed out on a podium in fourth.

The two BMW Z4 GT3s entered by PIXUM Team Schubert came fifth (Claudia Hürtgen, 42, and Dominik Baumann, 21) and seventh (Max Sandritter, 25, and Jens Klingmann, 23) respectively. HTP Motorsport’s Maximilian Götz (28) and Maximilian Buhk (21) finished sixth in the fastest of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMGs.

Sebastian Asch (27) and Swiss co-driver Philipp Frommenwiler (24) in a Farnbacher Racing Porsche got past the Callaway Competition Corvette driven by Andreas Wirth (29) and Daniel Keilwitz (24) to secure eighth position. Jan Seyffarth (27) and Maro Engel (28) in their ROWE Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG bagged the remaining championship point with a P10 finish.

Third successive win in Gentlemen class for Herbert Handlos

TONINO Team Herberth’s Herbert Handlos (31) and Alfred Renauer (29) made it a Porsche one-two in the Gentlemen classification and gave TONINO Team Herberth double cause for celebration as the Porsche outfit claimed both Gentlemen winner’s trophies in the two weekend races. Dominic Jöst (35) and Florian Scholze (41) once again finished as runner-up, while Remo Lips (32) and Lennart Marioneck (25) in a Callaway Competition Corvette took the remaining podium spot.

Result of Race 2 (Top Six):

1. Kévin Estre / Jaap van Lagen (GW IT Racing Team // Schütz Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 R), 31 laps
2. Kelvin van der Linde / René Rast (Prosperia C Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +8.371 sec
3. Fabian Hamprecht / Nicki Thiim (Prosperia C Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +13.937 sec
4. Christer Jöns / Markus Winkelhock (Prosperia C Abt Racing, Audi R8 LMS ultra), +18.713 sec
5. Claudia Hürtgen / Dominik Baumann (PIXUM Team Schubert, BMW Z4 GT3), +27.391 sec
6. Maximilian Götz / Maximilian Buhk (HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3), +30.108 sec