Spa Francorchamps, Belgium. The Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo is at Spa Francorchamps this weekend for rounds seven and eight of the 2012 European series. Qualifying and the first race of the weekend took place on Friday, and race two takes place at 1050hrs CET on Saturday.
Qualifying, Friday 27 July 2012
The Touring Auto 2000 S.R.L. team was back on top in qualifying today at Spa-Francorchamps as Dimitri Enjalbert secured pole position for round seven of the 2012 Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo. The French driver set his fastest lap early in the session and none of the other drivers was able to match his time of 2:25.909.
Adrian Zaugg, back in action after a crash at Paul Ricard kept him sidelined for the second race of the weekend, was second fastest. The South African finished the session seven tenths of a second behind Enjalbert. Third fastest was Andrea Amici. Amici had two fastest lap times disallowed for running beyond the track limits, but then managed to clock a 2:27.026 laptime.
Race 1, Friday 27 July 2012
Bernard Delhez started from pole position in round seven of the 2012 season, but before the end of the first lap Cédric Leimer, who had started from fourth place, had already overtaken him to take the lead. Starting on the front row of the grid, Adrian Zaugg made a poor start and dropped down to fourth place, but the South African quickly recovered and by lap 4 he had retrieved second position. Leimer and Zaugg began to pull away from the rest of the field, as Delhez, Andrea Amici and Leonardo Geraci became engaged in a battle for third.
As the pit window opened, Delhez opted to pit early, while Zaugg and Leimer covered each other and chose to run long, staying out until lap 11. While the pitlane was busy, out on the track Zaugg took advantage of a slow lap by Leimer. The Bonaldi Motorsport driver took the lead on lap nine and two laps later, when both he and Leimer emerged from the pitlane, he had extended his lead to over three seconds.
Laurent Jenny missed the pitstop window by 39s and suffered a stop/go penalty, but when all the teams had completed their stops, Zaugg held the lead with a hard-charging Leimer behind. While the two leading cars were engaged in their own battle, Andrea Amici and Dimitri Enjalbert were fighting for third place. Enjalbert kept pushing and soon passed Amici, but he clearly had higher ambitions. With seven minutes of the race to run, Enjalbert had closed the gap to ten seconds behind race leader Zaugg and to within five seconds of Cédric Leimer. With a three-way shoot out for the win in prospect, Zaugg suddenly slowed with a fuel pressure problem and both Leimer and Enjalbert were able to close down his advantage. On lap 18, Enjalbert overtook both Leimer and Zaugg for the lead, while the ailing Zaugg dropped even further down the order.
As Enjalbert started his final lap, the heat and humidity broke as rain began to fall, but fortunately the weather came too late to affect the outcome and after 20 laps, the Frenchman crossed the line to take the win. Leimer finished in second position, five seconds behind Enjalbert. Andrea Amici inherited third place, and erstwhile leader Adrian Zaugg eventually finished in sixth place. The best placed amateur driver was Leonardo Geraci, who finished fourth overall, while Spa debutant Roberto Tanca was the second amateur home in seventh overall.
Jean-Michel Martin, #1
I am very pleased as I had a big fight throughout my stint with everyone around me, but we dropped a lot of time during our driver change as we had to alter the tyre pressures. We lost maybe half a minute, so we went into the stop in p7 or so and when Giorgio took over the car, he came out in tenth. This was a bit frustrating as we have a good partnership as drivers and we are evenly matched, so we should have finished higher up.
Dimitri Enjalbert #69 “I saw that near Raidillon Adrian Zaugg was slowing, I didn’t know he had a problem, but Cedric was right behind him and was being held up. It gave me the opportunity, and while they were both braking, I accelerated past them. Then I had to hold onto the lead that I had earnt and managed at least one purple sector. But it wasn’t finished as the rain came and I had to make sure to get the car home. I am really happy and proud of Bernard who did a great job today.”
Bernard Delhez, #69 “Super Trofeo is a very good series for an amateur driver, allowing us to work alongside a professional driver and respecting how an amateur can develop by working in a single make series where the focus is on the driver improving. It is helping me to progress my racing working alongside Dimitri, and it is not just inside the car. Every race we arrive early to prepare, to discuss in detail, to run round the track together so Dimitri can give me his advice. And then in the race Dimitri is often on the radio, coaching me. I think we are a great partnership working together and winning is important, but it is much more important that we are improving as a team.”
Source: Lamborghini
