Smiechowski defied all weather tricks and caught a double header in Zolder!
June 22, 2015
Race 1

As predicted the weather god showed again his two faces during both sunday races of the BOSS GP series in Belgium. While the track was still dry when the pit lane opened for race 1, the conditions were changing already on the starting grid. Rainfall set in and the race director declared a wet race before the formation lap. All teams were forced to change tires before the safety car guided the cars into the formation lap. Jakub Smiechowski (POL), already the fastest racer in qualifying, seemed to find the best setup and mindset for the tricky conditions and he lead the entire field from start to finish. His lap times were truely impressive and he unquestionably deserved his first win this season.

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Johann Ledermair (AUT) was not able to keep up the pace in the wet and he gave up chasing Smiechowski in order to bringing his car home safely on P2 –  still collecting valuable points to keep the lead in the championship. Christopher Brenier (FRA) also manifested his 3rd place in the championship with a faultless P3 podium ride on the wet track. Florian Schnitzenbaumer (GER) again wanted to attack the leader group, but a water temperature problem as well as a spin at the beginning of the race increased the gap to the three leaders and he was only able to defend his 4th position during the race.

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P5 went to Wolfgang Jaksch (GER), who seems to have a good feeling for his GP2 in the rain. He gained 3 positions as he started from P8. P6 was credited to Gilles Brenier, who despite having a hard curb hit in chicane 1, finished the race with pain in his upper body. He was unfortunately not able to compete in race 2. P7 was enough for Hans Laub (GER) to again receive the Masters class trophy as he secured his third consecutive victory. Karl-Heinz Becker and the third Masters class pilot Walter Steding followed on P8 and P9, all three completed the Masters podium spots 1,2 and 3. Christian Eicke also brought again his GP2 back home in the pits on P10 and Veronika Cicha (CZE) finished her first wet race ever with her pink GP2 on P11. Peter Göllner (SUI) completed the classification finishing on P12. Not classified were PETER, Armando Mangini and Henk de Boer.

 

Race 2

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After a break of 4 hours, the entire conditions on the notorious ciruit Terlaemen changed again and the sun quickly dried off the track in preparation for a fast and furious challenge of the entire BOSS GP formula car field. Already right after the rolling start Florian Schnitzenbaumer pushed too hard into turn 1 and crashed in the back of Johann Ledermair`s GP2. While the German had to retire his car due to the complete loss of his front wing, Johann Ledermair was able to continue the race. However it was again Jakub Smiechowski (POL), who drove an almost lonesome and faultless race and he triumphed also in race 2 without any doubts. With his 2nd win this weekend the tackle for the championship is again on with his rival Ledermair (AUT), who also finished race 2 on P2. The gap after the Belgium Superprix races between the Austrian leader and his Polish contender melted down to only 8 points with still 3 events, 6 races and a maximum of 150 points to go.

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Another podium spot was caught by Christopher Brenier (FRA), who steadily guided his Superleague Formula V12 through the fast turns and tricky chicanes of the circuit. Henk de Boer, still retired in race 1, came from all the way behind and utilized his experience on the Zolder track to finish on P4 followed by the German pilot Wolfgang Jaksch. Jaksch lost his 5th position in the starting grid as he stalled the engine at the beginning of the formation lap and was not able to regain his position before the rolling start. He also had to come from all the way back and overtook car by car finally finishing again on P5 this weekend. The fastest Masters class car in race 2 was driven by Karl Heinz Becker (GER), who finally passed Hans Laub again after seeing only his tail for the last three races. Armando Mangini (ITA) showed a good performance in race 2 and finished on P7. Hans Laub (GER) saw the checkered flag on P8 and he earned another 22 points for the Masters championship ranking. The German Christian Eicke positioned his GP2 on rank 9 followed by Walter Steding, who also earned a podium spot in the Masters class. Peter Göllner and Veronika Cicha completed the classified field with P11 and P12. The Czech female driver was admittedly faster than the two contenders in front of her but the surplus on speed was not enough to pass the two Masters driver during the race.

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The BOSS GP Belgium Superprix is now already history and the series is preparing for the next race weekend on 1st & 2nd of August at the legendary TT Circuit of Assen in the Netherlands.

The GAMMA RACING DAY event is the biggest combined motorsport event in Europe with spectacular car, superbike, superkart and sidecar races incl. European and World Championship heats, plus Team Toro Rosso F1 and Moto GP demonstration show.

All drivers and teams will expect a crowd of more than 80.000 spectators. Stay focused for more news soon…

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