2015 Blancpain Sprint Series Zandvoort round


The 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series Zandvoort round was the last of seven rounds of the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series season. It took place at Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands between 9 October and 11 October 2015.

Report

Background

Championship contender Laurens Vanthoor injured

Before the season finale, Robin Frijns and Laurens Vanthoor led the championship by eight points, but Vanthoor was not able to try and win the championship together with Frijns as he was injured in a heavy crash in the Qualifying Race at Misano the week before. On the straight before Turn 8 he made contact with the HTP Bentley of Jules Szymkowiak sending the both into the barriers. Both drivers could get out of their cars, but Vanthoor had to be transported to the medical centre to get treatment for a sprained foot. In Zandvoort he was replaced by Christopher Mies.

Jeroen Bleekemolen returns

returned to the series after an almost one-year absence. He replaced Marco Seefried, because Seefried was not able to race in Zandvoort as he is also a driver for Dempsey Racing-Proton in the FIA WEC and the round at Zandvoort clashed with the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Free practice

Maximilian Buhk was the quickest driver in the first of two free practice sessions. His fastest lap was a 1:38.084, which was eight tenths faster than championship rival Frijns.
FP2 was dominated by Audi with six cars in the top seven. Debutant Nicki Thiim managed to get the fastest time with a 1:38.205. Frijns was again second, three tenths behind his Danish teammate.

Qualifying

The No. 84 HTP Bentley of Abril and Buhk was back on top after qualifying and managed to get Pole position for the Qualifying Race. Their championships rivals Frijns, who qualified second, and Norbert Siedler, who qualified fourth, were close behind as the top four was covered by only three tenths of a second. In the second qualifying session Max van Splunteren went off track, which damaged their Bentley. Although he and teammate Szymkowiak were faster than some others, they were still put to the back of the grid, because they were penalized after the crash at Misano involving Szymkowiak and Vanthoor.

Qualifying Race

Warm-Up

The championship contending No. 333 Rinaldi Ferrari of Siedler withdrew from the Main Race after they had suffered an engine failure in the warm-up session. The engine just suddenly lost power causing Siedler to give up his championship hopes.

Main Race

Classification

Qualifying

;Notes:

Qualifying Race

Class winners in bold.
ClassDriversTeamManufacturerLapsTime/Retired
1Pro84 Vincent Abril
Maximilian Buhk
Bentley Team HTPBentley359
2Pro2 Nicki Thiim
Frédéric Vervisch
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi35+5.7646
3Pro6 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof
Markus Winkelhock
Phoenix RacingAudi35+16.1444
4Pro333 Jeroen Bleekemolen
Norbert Siedler
Rinaldi RacingFerrari35+30.9193
5Pro3 Stéphane Ortelli
Stéphane Richelmi
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi35+31.7412
6Pro173 Craig Dolby
Sean Walkinshaw
Always Evolving MotorsportNissan35+34.7681
7Silver Cup83 Max van Splunteren
Jules Szymkowiak
Bentley Team HTPBentley35+34.768
8Pro0 Cacá Bueno
Sérgio Jimenez
BMW Sports Trophy Team BrasilBMW35+35.030
9Pro77 Átila Abreu
Valdeno Brito
BMW Sports Trophy Team BrasilBMW35+44.836
10Pro71 Marko Asmer
Roman Mavlanov
GT Russian TeamMercedes-Benz35+45.144
11Pro75 Marco Bonanomi
Filip Salaquarda
ISRAudi35+46.566
12Pro88 Nick Catsburg
Albert von Thurn und Taxis
Reiter EngineeringLamborghini35+52.612
13Pro-Am70 Indy Dontje
Aleksey Karachev
GT Russian TeamMercedes-Benz35+1:13.998
14Silver Cup74 Anders Fjordbach
Michael Markussen
ISRAudi35+1:22.070
15Pro1 Robin Frijns
Christopher Mies
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi34+1 Lap
RetPro4 James Nash
Frank Stippler
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi6Electrical

;Notes:

Main Race

Class winners in bold.
ClassDriversTeamManufacturerLapsTime/Retired
1Pro84 Vincent Abril
Maximilian Buhk
Bentley Team HTPBentley3625
2Pro1 Robin Frijns
Christopher Mies
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi36+0.37518
3Pro2 Nicki Thiim
Frédéric Vervisch
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi36+0.88615
4Pro75 Marco Bonanomi
Filip Salaquarda
ISRAudi36+41.79412
5Pro3 Stéphane Ortelli
Stéphane Richelmi
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi36+42.45710
6Silver Cup83 Max van Splunteren
Jules Szymkowiak
Bentley Team HTPBentley36+42.7608
7Pro71 Marko Asmer
Roman Mavlanov
GT Russian TeamMercedes-Benz36+55.9036
8Pro88 Nick Catsburg
Albert von Thurn und Taxis
Reiter EngineeringLamborghini36+56.5014
9Pro-Am70 Indy Dontje
Aleksey Karachev
GT Russian TeamMercedes-Benz36+1:02.6612
10Pro0 Cacá Bueno
Sérgio Jimenez
BMW Sports Trophy Team BrasilBMW36+1:34.6751
11Silver Cup74 Anders Fjordbach
Michael Markussen
ISRAudi36+1:36.052
RetPro4 James Nash
Frank Stippler
Belgian Audi Club Team WRTAudi19Retired
RetPro173 Craig Dolby
Sean Walkinshaw
Always Evolving MotorsportNissan11Collision Damage
RetPro6 Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof
Markus Winkelhock
Phoenix RacingAudi0Accident
RetPro77 Átila Abreu
Valdeno Brito
BMW Sports Trophy Team BrasilBMW0Accident
DNSPro333 Jeroen Bleekemolen
Norbert Siedler
Rinaldi RacingFerrariEngine

;Notes:

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
11 Vincent Abril
Maximilian Buhk
135
12 Robin Frijns127
23 Laurens Vanthoor109
14 Norbert Siedler95
25 Marco Seefried92