European GT4: Rabindra/Lemeret claims fourth place in Race 1 at Brands Hatch

The second round in the 2018 GT4 European Series at Brands Hatch saw the 3Y Technology pair of Stephane Lemeret and Akhil Rabindra start the weekend finishing 28th and 21st overall in the two practice sessions on Saturday.

They were 11th and 10th in Silver class respectively. The Qualifying 1 with Rabindra behind the wheel of the BMW M4 GT4 car saw the Indian finish 14th overall and ninth in Silver class for Race 1 on Sunday, while Lemeret was 30th overall and 13th in class for Race 2.

The Race 1 pole went to #55 HHC Motorsport Ginetta of Stuart Middleton and William Tregurtha from #22 True Racing KTM of Reinhard Kofler and Laura Kraihamer and #5 Phoenix Racing Audi of Milan Dontje and Nicolaj Moller Madsen.

The Race 2 pole was taken by #77 Racing One Audi of Csaba Mor and Patrick Zamparini from #87 Team GT McLaren of Paul Rees and Nico Rindlisbacher and #18 V8 Racing Chevrolet Camaro of Jelle Beelen and Wolf Nathan.

Race 1

It was a stop/start first race all-through at Brands Hatch on Sunday. It saw three safety car periods with the last one resulting in a red flag and the race result declared on Lap 21. Rabindra started in the #37 BMW for the 3Y Technology team.

The Indian lost four places at the start, but was able to regain two positions back at the end of the opening lap. He moved to 14th overall after moving past #61 Academy Motorsport Aston Martin of Dennis Strandberg (co-driver Jan Jonck).

The Bangalorean then pitted under the safety car which helped the French team gain seven places to seventh with Lemeret behind the wheel. He earned two places to finish fifth overall and also in the Silver class after an incident and a subsequent penalty – which ended the race.

This was the Indo-Belgian’s best result in the season so far, as #55 Ginetta took the win from #5 Audi while #1 MDM Motorsport BMW of Max Koebolt and Simon Knap completing the podium – both overall and the Silver class.

Post-race time penalty to race winners #55 Ginetta meant the #5 Audi inherited the race victory, with Rabindra & Lemeret then finishing fourth in overall and Silver class - claiming their best result so far in the two rounds.

Race 2

It was a storming from Lemeret in the opening lap with the Belgian making up nine places to be 21st. He moved to 19th in the next couple of laps and then had a battle with the #9 Chevrolet Camaro and the #12 BMW M4 GT4.

Both sneak through him as Lemeret dropped to 20th overall. He was also overtaken by the recovering #5 Audi of Madsen to be 21st as the pit window opened up under the safety car. The Belgian pitted to hand over the car to Rabindra.

Once again the pit stop worked as the Indian came out in eighth position behind the #5 Audi. Upon re-start, Rabindra moved to seventh clearing Dontje in the #5 Audi. He ran well defending his position but dropped the place to the #5 Audi and also the #36 Ginetta.

He was running in ninth when the stewards issues a stop/go penalty for the for the pit stop of Lemeret. Rabindra was left with no choice but to serve the penalty which dropped him to 14th overall with few laps remaining.

The Indian still managed to clear 3Y Technology sister #38 car before the finish to end up 13th overall and 12th in Silver class, while #55 Ginetta fought back to win the race from the #2 BMW M4 and the #5 Mercedes.

With the completion of the two rounds, the Indo-Belgian pair has 14 points to their name as they move ahead for Round 3 at Misano during June 23-24 weekend.

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