Autore: Keke Platzer

Hans Laub defends MASTERS Champion Title
It was not the most successful race weekend of Hans Laub’s career, but it was definitely his most successful season. In the end, position four (MASTERS) in both races was enough to defend his BOSSGP MASTERS Champion title one race before the season finale in Paul Ricard.

Another double victory in the MASTERS Class of his closest pursuer Karl-Heinz Becker in front of Wolfgang Jordan and Martin Kindler (Race 1) and Walter Steding and Martin Kindler (Race 2) was not enough to take the title from Laub.

Worst and best race for Gary Hauser
Hauser’s visit to Imola started rough. With only position six in the qualifying and a disqualification after Race 1 for not clearing the starting field in time, he had no choice but watch his closest championship rivals Jakub Smiechowski on position 1 and Johann Ledermair on position 2 to extend their lead in the championship (Hausers Teammember Phil Stratford finished third). As result of the disqualification Hauser had to start from the last position in Race 2, where he managed to do something the most race pilots can only dream of. Over the duration of 17 Laps he was able to overtake all other pilots on the track and secure the first place in front of Smiechowski and Ledermair, which he overtook in round 17 and 14.

Nevertheless, with a 34 point deficit in the OPEN Class and 50 points in the MASTERS Class behind Ledermair, his chances to defend his Champion titles with one grand prix left are only minimal.

Ingo Gerstl and Klaas Zwart unlucky
The weekend could have gone completely different if Klaas Zwart and Ingo Gerstl had a little more luck on their sides. Especially Zwart was disappointed, who was the fastest driver on the track by a long shot, at least up to the qualifying. The dutchmen secured the pole position in his Jaguar R5 F1 with a 6,061s lead in front of Gerstl, but hit the curbs and took a trip to the gravel. As a result his front axle broke and could not be fixed in time for the race.

Gerstl on the other hand was already on his way to a start to finish victory in race one, when his gearbox broke down in the second last lap and he had to bury his winning hopes.

See the complete results on the event page: COPPA ITALIA – LUIGI MUSSO HISTORIC GP Results

The BOSS GP has finally arrived in the Czech republic. The legendary 5,4 km long MotoGP Track “masarykuv okruh” in Brno showed a rather cold a rainy shoulder, but that did not prevent the BOSS GP pilots from delivering a spectacular show for the local audience. Especially FORMULA Class Pilot Ingo Gerstl and MASTERS Class Pilot Karl-Heinz Becker showed of an exceptional performance under these rainy conditions by securing the top position in their classes in both races.

Ingo Gerstl on his way to the pole position

With a time of 02:07.522s in the Qualifying, 02.746s ahead of the second fastest pilot Johann Ledermair, Gerstl made clear that he is the one to beat on this weekend.

With a better start in the first race Ledermair was able to take the leading position for a short time, but could not handle the wet track and in the end he had to be content with the fifth place. Current Champion Gary Hauser who started from the fourth position was able to fight his way up to the second position in front of Jakub Smiechowski who finished third, but ultimately couldn’t keep up with Gerstl who secured the first victory of the weekend with a massive lead of 21.121s.

Jakub Smiechowski and Marijn van Kalmthout fighting for position 4

In the second race Hauser was able to lead the first few laps, but finally shared the fate of Johann Ledermair and had to give up the top spot to Ingo Gerstl. In the end Gerstl secured his second victory in front of Gary Hauser and Jakub Smiechowski.

Karl-Heinz Becker showed a similarly dominating performance in the MASTERS Class where he won both races in front of current MASTERS Class leader Hans Laub, with Peter Göllner on position three in race one and Christian Eicke on position three in race two.

Karl Heinz Becker celebrates victory

The next BOSS GP event will take place on October 4th/5th in Imola, hopefully with better weather.

See you in Italy!

See the complete results on the event page: MASARYK RACING DAYS Results

On the 5th and 6th of July it was once again time for the annual rain battle of Zandvoort.
Marijn van Kalmthout and Klaas Zwart took this chance to prove that they are still part of the top BOSS GP pilots, despite lack of track time this season.

Rain Chaos in Zandvoort

In a chaotic qualifying session with multiple red and yellow flags, van Kalmthout and Zwart finished on position two (1:58.232) and three (2:00.913) behind Johann Ledermair who secured his first ever BOSS GP pole position (1:57.845).
The fastest MASTERS class driver was Karl-Heinz-Becker on position six (2:06.824), who is finally back after missing the last two Grand Prix’s due to technical difficulties, in front of Jens Renstrup (2:07.303) and MASTERS class leader Hans Laub (2:07.654).

Kalmthout, Smiechowski and Ledermair fighting for the top spot

Race 1 saw a exciting battle until the last lap between van Kalmthout, Ledermair and Smiechowski foughting a thrilling fight for the top three podium positions with multiple overtaking manoeuvres and position changes.
Zwart, who gambled and decided to start the race on rain tyres had no choice but to take a pit stop already in lap one, changed his tyres and drop back to position 11. Still he was able to fight his way back to the third position behind van Kalmthout who took the first victory of the weekend and Smiechowski with a fantastic second place while Ledermair was out from the podium spots after a very hard crash in leading position in the last lap. In the MASTERS class Hans Laub was once again victorious in front of Henry Büttner and Karl Heinz Becker.

Klaas Zwart wins the second race

The second race started in a complete opposite way for van Kalmthout. Due to technical difficulties he was not able to start into the warm-up lap and had to enter the race from the pit. On the other hand, the second Dutchmen on the field Klaas Zwart and Ledermair Motorsport Pilot Johann Ledermair took their chances and overtook Jakub Smiechkowski, who had this time a weak start. The rest of the second race was more or less static with constant driving performances and nearly no mistakes. Therefore the top three positions did not change at all and so Zwart won the second race of the weekend in front of Ledermair and Smiechkowski. Van Kalmthout finally finished on position seven.

Team Speed Center

In race two the MASTERS Class was dominated by team Speed Center whose drivers took the three top spots, Hans Laub on the first, Christian Eicke on the second and Peter Göllner on the third position. Karl-Heinz Becker leading the MASTERS class until the last lap collided with Klaas Zwart during a safety-car period and couldn’t finish the race but could once again showing his very experienced driving skills with leading his class until this little crash.
Another very big crash of Inter Europol GP2 driver Jens Renstrup at the end of race 2 had more lucky ending than it seemed at first when the medical rescue team was going out on the track. After a complete check in the local hospital Renstrup could make his way back home with still some pain but in a good condition and with a smile on his face.

Zandvoort Grid Girls

After a great team work for nearly the whole night Johann Ledermair could come back in race two to secure the second podium spot behind Klaas Zwart which also brought him the needed Championship points to take over the ‘Overall’ but also the ‘Formula’ class lead from Gary Hauser.

With a impressive time of 1:22.849min Klaas Zwart set in race two a new official lap record for the circuit of Zandvoort!

Next race: 13/14 September – Masaryk Racing Days – Automotodrom Brno (CZ)

See the complete results on the event page: MASTERS OF FORMULA 3 & BLANCPAIN GT Results