[954Stealth]

Season Finale!!



Timetable:

Free Practice 1 - Saturday, 1 November:
09:00 - 05:00 GMT

Free Practice 2 - Saturday, 1 November
11:30 - 07:30 GMT

Qualifying Practice - Saturday, 1 November
16:00 - 12:00 GMT

Qualifying Race - Sunday, 2 November
09:15 - 05:15 GMT

Main Race - Sunday, 2 November
13:55 - 09:55 GMT



The prestigious Baku World Challenge forms the final round of the inaugural season of the Blancpain Sprint Series. By winning for the third time in Zolder Maximilian Götz has put one hand on the 2014 Drivers title, but Grasser Lamborghini drivers Hari Proczyk and Jeroen Bleekemolen are still in with a shot. They will have to close a 27-point gap on the Azeri street circuit, a task made more difficult by the added presence of several high-level GT-teams, which will fill all 30 places on the starting grid in Baku.

Three wins, one second place and every Qualifying or Main Race a points finish: Maximilian Götz has had an excellent run in the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series. With 34 points up for grabs on the streets of Baku (1 for pole position, 8 in the Qualifying Race and 25 in the Main Race) the 28-year-old German – who shared the #84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes with Maximilian Buhk at every round but one – is now very close to the title. However, one stroke of bad luck on the 3,864 km Baku street circuit could see his 27-point lead melt like snow in the sun. On the other hand, if Götz manages to finish in front of the Lamborghini of Proczyk and Bleekemolen in the Qualifying Race, he could clinch the title before the start of the Baku Main Race.

In the overall Teams Classification, it is already certain that the title fight will only be decided in the Main Race. HTP Motorsport has a 10-point lead over the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT – the various cars from the Belgian squad scored points in every race – but the Grasser Racing Team is still in the running as well. With a 21-point deficit, the Austrian team will need at least one podium finish to claim the teams’ title.

In the Silver Cup, victory in Zolder has given Belgian Audi Club Team WRT-drivers Vincent Abril and Mateusz Lisowski a comfortable lead on the eve of the final round of the 2014 season. Only ROAL Motorsport-pairing Fumanelli-Colombo could deny them the title (in both Drivers and Teams Classifications), but if Abril and Lisowski finish in front of the BMW-duo in the Qualifying Race, the die is cast.

With the Pro-Am title being decided at the Belgian round, Alessandro Latif and Marc Basseng can now fully focus on claiming a fifth Main Race win of the season.

Extra teams make for a full grid

Focussing on the win is something that plenty of teams participating in the Baku World Challenge will be doing. The attractive prize money (100.000 euro for the overall winning team, 50.000 for the second placed team, and 25.000 for the team third) has drawn the attention of plenty of top-notch GT-teams and drivers. Beechdean AMR and GT Russian Team were already present in Zolder to prepare for the Azeri season finale, but they will be joined by no fewer than seven teams that are new to the Blancpain Sprint Series. Two of them were present in some or all of the Blancpain Endurance Series races this year. Boutsen Ginion Racing will bring two McLaren MP4-12C to Baku, while Triple 888 Racing will enter a BMW Z4 in the Silver cup, for talented youngsters Ryan Ratcliffe and Joe Osborne.

Trackspeed from Great Britain enters a quick Porsche 997 GT3-R, just like German squad Schütz Motorsport. More German teams will be present, with Prosperia ABT racing (Audi R8 LMS ultra), Zakspeed (Mercedes SLS AMG GT3) and Callaway-RWT, who will bring two Corvette Z06 cars. That brings the total of prestigious car brands represented at the Baku World Challenge to eight.

Some Series’ regulars have also slightly altered their line-up – BMW Sports Trophy Teams Brazil and Schubert, together with Fortec Motorsports – bringing the total of Platinum drivers at the start of the Baku World Challenge to an astonishing 17. Add to that the 18 drivers with Gold status, and it is clear that the quality of racing at the Baku World Challenge will be of an unprecedented high level.

Buhk vs. Vanthoor for GT Series title

The Baku World Challenge also forms the final chapter of the inaugural Blancpain GT Series, the series that combines both Endurance and Sprint. Two drivers are still in the running for the title: Maximilian Buhk and the Blancpain Endurance Series Pro champion Laurens Vanthoor. The Belgian has scored 23 fewer points than the German, so if Buhk can extend that lead by two more points by the end of the Qualifying Race, the title will be his even before the start of the Main Race. In the team classification the situation is reversed, with the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT leading HTP Motorsport by 17 points. Unless the Audi squad takes pole and wins the Qualifying Race – with the Mercedes team scoring nul points in that first race of the weekend – this duel for the cheque of 100.000 euro will go to the wire.

Pitstop Challenge won by Phoenix Racing

One competition that has already been decided is the Pitstop Challenge. With the crew of each car earning points by the speed by which they execute their pitstop, the crew of the #5 Phoenix Racing Audi now has an unassailable lead over the crew of the #0 BMW Sports Trophy Team Brazil BMW, which is in second the standings. For their performance the Phoenix Racing crew will be handed the Pitstop Challenge Cup at the Prize Giving Ceremony on November 28th in London.

[954Stealth]

[954Stealth]

A quote for BMW Sport Trophy Team ROAL Motorsport:


David Fumanelli (#34 ROAL Motorsport BMW):
“I can't wait for the Baku Grand Finale, it’s going to be a huge challenge for everyone and I'm really curious to discover the track. I've already raced in a street circuit in the past, with great results, so I hope we can have a good weekend and finish the season on a high. Unfortunately, the contact we had at the Main Race start in Zolder compromised a bit our Silver Cup title chances, but even if it's difficult, the fight is still open! We need a bit of luck, but we'll try harder than ever to be right there if something happens.”

[954Stealth]

Some interesting facts on the Baku World Challenge entry list :

* The average age of the 59 drivers is 27.9 years, which is even lower than the previous lowest average, noted at the Slovakia round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series.

* 27 drivers are aged 25 or younger

* Kelvin van der Linde (#777 Prosperia Abt Racing Audi) will become the youngest driver ever in the Blancpain Sprint Series, at 18 years, 4 months and 12 days. Alessandro Latif, (#5 Phoenic Racing Audi) who secured the Pro-Am title in Zolder was the youngest until now.

* There are

16 Platinum drivers

17 Gold drivers

24 Silver drivers

2 Bronze* drivers

[954Stealth]

This weekend's Blancpain Sprint Series finale in Azerbaijan will be fought out on a revised Baku street circuit.

The Baku World Challenge, which has attracted a capacity 30-car entry, will run on a shorter version of the track that hosted the final round of last year's FIA GT Series.



The circuit has been revised in five key locations, resulting in a reduction of length from 2.7 to 2.4 miles:

1) The tight second chicane after the first hairpin has been removed courtesy of construction work in the city.

2) The following right-hander that takes the cars onto the narrow streets of the old city has been tightened to approaching 90 degrees as a result of the higher speeds at which the cars will be arriving.

3) The controversial third chicane, to which most drivers paid only lip service and which broke up in the main race, has been removed.

4) This has been facilitated by a shorter run to the final hairpin, which has resulted in the shorter circuit length.

5) The final chicane has changed direction from a right-and-left to left-and-right to stop drivers using the pitlane entry as the racing line.

The two chicanes will be FIA-approved temporary structures of the type used at the Porto street circuit World Touring Car Championship venue.

Race promoter Renaud Jeanfils said: "The circuit has the same spirit as before, but we think it will much better."

Formula 1 will use a different track when it comes to Baku for its European Grand Prix in 2016.

[954Stealth]

Aston Martin Racing will contest the final round of the Blancpain Sprint Series in Baku this weekend (1/2 November) with Jonny Adam (GB) and Andy Soucek (ES) in the Beechdean V12 Vantage GT3 and, following a solid debut in Zolder a fortnight ago, sights are set on another top five finish.


In the works team’s series debut, Aston Martin Racing works driver Adam and team-mate ex-F1 test driver Soucek quickly made their mark in the highly-competitive 30-strong grid by finishing both one-hour races in fifth place.

Despite being one of the most experienced Vantage GT3 drivers in the world, it was Adam’s series debut but he knew that they had to push hard from the start in order to be competitive.

“We knew we had to hit the ground running,” commented Adam. “This series is so competitive, you don’t have time to settle in. Andy had never driven the car before so we used the practice sessions to give him as much time in the car as possible and he took to it straight away. That’s the beauty of the Vantage GT3, it’s fast and competitive but also easy to adapt to.”

The V12 Vantage GT3 was introduced at the start of the 2012 season and has been incredibly successful. Adam and Beechdean AMR team-mate Andrew Howard (GB) took the car’s first ever race win in April 2012 and, since then, the car has raced in most of major races and championships around the world, now including the new-for-2014 Blancpain Sprint Series.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the Vantage GT3,” commented Soucek. “We had a great race in Zolder but I think we can do even better in Baku this weekend now that we have gelled as a team and I have spent a bit more time in the car.”

Baku World Challenge in Azerbajan is the only street circuit race in the Blancpain Sprint Series calendar. The 4.4km long circuit runs through the old town of Baku, centering around the country’s largest national flag and running along the Caspian Sea coastline.

“It’s a great circuit and we are all looking forward to seeing the Vantage GT3 compete there,” commented Team Principal John Gaw. “The team, of course, would like to finish even higher than they did in Zolder but the competition is tough. There are teams there that have experience in the Baku World Challenge and many of them have contested the whole of the Blancpain Sprint Series season. This is just our second race in the Series so we must remain realistic but the car is good, the drivers are great and the team is strong. We’ll see what happens at the weekend.”

paddocktalk

[954Stealth]

Photo from the parade to open the weekend's events!

[954Stealth]

BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert travel to Baku with Baumann and Klingmann




The final race weekend of the year is just around the corner for BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert. A new challenge awaits the team from Oschersleben (DE) at the season finale of the Blancpain Sprint Series in Baku (AZ). They have never raced a BMW Z4 GT3 on a street circuit before.




In car number 76, Dominik Baumann (AT) and Jens Klingmann (DE) will rise to the challenge and are ready for the anticipated spectacle. Klingmann takes the place of Thomas Jäger (AT) in Baku, who completed his final race of the season at the Nürburgring (DE) last weekend, finishing on the podium in his class. He competed in the VLN season finale in a BMW M235i Racing and came third. Klingmann recently competed in the season finale of the ADAC GT Masters in Hockenheim (DE).



The qualifying race in Baku gets underway at 06:15 am CET on Saturday. The main race on Sunday starts at 10:55 am CET.



Stefan Wendl (Team Principal Schubert Motorsport): “It's the first time we will compete on a street circuit with a GT3 car. We need to get used to these new conditions as quickly as possible in the practice sessions. It's incredibly difficult to gauge the limit here since there isn't any room for even the slightest error between the crash barriers. This is why we aren't expecting much from the weekend, but we'll do our best and see what happens. We planned to swap Thomas Jäger for Jens Klingmann for this race a long time ago. Thomas had a great end to the season last weekend with his podium spot in the BMW M235i Racing Cup class of the VLN. Now he's going to take part in some testing for the 24 hours of Dubai in January.”

[954Stealth]

Since we're at the end of the season, let's take a moment to look back on the 2014 race season. Here's a video of highlights

[954Stealth]

Zanardi goes onto the streets of Baku.
BMW works driver Alessandro Zanardi had a strong start to the final round of the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series. The season finale, the “Baku World Challenge”, is being held on the streets of Baku on the shores of the Caspian Sea this weekend.


Nov. 1, 2014 bmw-motorsport



Today, Saturday, saw two free practice sessions in the morning and the qualifying practice in the afternoon. On the tight street circuit in the south part of the city Zanardi was fast from the word ‘go’. In the first free practice he set the fastest lap time with his BMW Z4 GT3 entered by ROAL Motorsport. In the late morning, it started to rain but this did not prevent Zanardi again setting a fast time in the second free practice and finishing second.

The weather improved again in time for the qualifying practice in the late afternoon. The mixed conditions on the street circuit proved to be more than tricky. The session had to be red-flagged three times after cars crashed into the barriers. Zanardi, nevertheless, comfortably progressed to Q3. At the beginning of this third and final part of the qualifying he lost a few tenths, but then his times improved again. In the final minute Zanardi was again on the way to set a fast time, which would have secured him a good grid position. But he had no luck, as a car in front of him spun, yellow flags were brought out and he had to interrupt his final attempt. In the end he qualified 14th for the qualifying race, which will be held tomorrow morning. The main race will start in the afternoon.

“It is the way it is, you can’t change it now," Zanardi summed up. “I had a small problem braking with my prosthetic leg, had understeer and lost a few tenths. Then I changed the brake balance and that helped. In the first sector I had improved by three or four tenths. I also had a good feeling in the second sector. I did a couple of corners, probably improving – but then I came to the section with the yellow flags so that was it. Anyway, I am confident for tomorrow. I have a very good car underneath me and I am starting on the outside, which helps to avoid any trouble in turn 1. This is the key: to come safely through the first corner. If I manage to do that, I will try my best to get a good result.”

The highest placed BMW car in the qualifying practice was the BMW Z4 GT3 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert driven by BMW works driver Jens Klingmann and Dominik Baumann, who finished sixth. Tomorrow’s qualifying race will start at 09:15 local time, the main race will get the green lights at 13:55.

[954Stealth]

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Strong BMW Z4 GT3 but no luck at Baku.
Everything was set for BMW works driver Alessandro Zanardi to end the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series on a high. At the season finale in Baku both the qualifying race and the main race were held today, Sunday.

(Nov 2, 2014 BMW-Motosport)



Zanardi’s BMW Z4 GT3 was handling well on the narrow street circuit and the Italian had a clever race strategy. But lady luck was not on his side, as his race day came to an early end when another competitor put him into the wall halfway through the qualifying race. Zanardi started the qualifying race from 13th on the grid. His plan was to avoid any trouble, to move up in the order and to secure a good grid position for the main race where he aimed for a strong result.

All went according to plan for the first 30 minutes. The opening lap saw several collisions, which caused a long safety car period, but Zanardi came safely through all the turmoil. He improved to 11th and kept moving forward, but after around 30 minutes his race was all of a sudden over. His BMW Z4 GT3 was hit heavily from behind and pushed into the wall. In the impact the car suffered severe damage at the front. When the ROAL Motorsport team, which enters Zanardi’s BMW Z4 GT3, inspected the damage, it had to accept that it could not be repaired in time for the main race.

“I was driving a very good race, the car felt very good and I knew sitting in a BMW would give me an advantage towards the end of the race," Zanardi reported. “So I was just trying to take care of my equipment and keep the right distance between myself and the car in front in order to keep my tyres and brakes in good condition. I could see that other people in front where experiencing grip or brake problems, which I was not having. So I was waiting for them to lose a little bit of performance and then would have started to try to attack and move forward.”

“Then the car in front of me had a problem and I just needed to pass that guy," he continued. “When I was basically alongside him going into the corner, the driver behind me misjudged his braking point, hit me quite violently, sent me into the wall and that was it. It is a pity. My BMW Z4 GT3 was working perfectly today and it is a pretty sad reward for all my boys from ROAL Motorsport and BMW who worked so hard all weekend. I think we could have gone home much happier had we just finished the race with no misfortunes.”

Both the qualifying and the main races were won by Cesar Ramos and Laurens Vanthoor. The best placed BMW car was the BMW Z4 GT3 of BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil, driven by Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico, who finished tenth and ninth respectively.

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Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Photo from the parade to open the weekend's events!

[954Stealth]

More of BMW and ROAL Motorsports and Alex Zanardi



















BMW Sports Trophy Team Brazil (the best placed BMWs who came in 9th and 10th):































and now some BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert














Triple 888 Racing and their distinctive BMW Z4 GT3







and some others

[954Stealth]

Here's the downfall of the Schubert BMW Z4 GT3 in this race:

[954Stealth]

Here's why Zanardi DNF'ed

[Flying Ace]

That's crazy! Street circuit inside a city!