Video: Ginetta Cup Round 4 Recap – Zolder
On Saturday February 6th, The Privateer’s Pitbox facilitated the second night of ACC-racing with our Ginetta Cup. Races three and four were on the agenda, with race four at Zolder being the subject of this particular post!
Before we head to the video, you can view my live experience in my Twitch-VOD here. If you want to rewatch the previous recaps first, you can (re)watch recap #1 (Monza), recap #2 (Brands Hatch) and recap #3 (Laguna Seca) on their respective articles!
Recap video of Zolder
Watch the ‘official’ recap in the Youtube video above. Below, I will recollect my point of view of the events unfolding.
Qualifying
Qualifying was done on a flooded track. With our 12 little Ginetta’s going in circles around the track, we had too little firepower to create a measurable dry line. The track did improve a bit over time, but towards the end the rain also increased. I was able to time my best lap just right, nabbing pole away from the German clutches of Till Vornam and Denis Marquardt.
My closest title-rival, Jeroen Jongen, was in fourth. A great opportunity for me to retake the lead, especially because with this qualifying result I already made up eight points.
The Race
The start of the race was a clean one, despite the dreadful circumstances. I was able to keep Vornam behind for a total of three corners, before going wide into turn four and giving Vornam the better exit. I had to let him go ahead into Kleine Chicane.
My battle was with Jeroen Jongen, who had already jumped up to third position. There was no point in defending my position against Vornam and risk a crash, spin, or worse. My mind was in survival mode.
I tried to get first position back, but Vornam proved a little bit too fast and the rain a little bit too difficult to overtake him. Instead, I had to focus on Jeroen Jongen behind me, who was inching closer and closer.
As the race continued, it became less of a battle against each other and more a battle against the conditions. There were some nasty puddles in braking zones, which could really throw you off. Turn one was nothing but trouble, while stopping in time for each of the three chicanes remained a struggle.
Fortunately, ACC is quite lenient when it comes to track limits in the rain, as I’m sure all of us would’ve been hit with a Drive Through-penalty at some point during this race. Not because we tried to circumvent the rules, but because braking into most turns was very inconsistent.
Eventually, one puddle caught out Vornam as he was sent sideways into the second chicane. Gifting myself the lead and Jongen behind a second position.
All I had to do from then on was to keep my car on the road and keep Jongen behind. I made (close to) zero mistakes in the remainder of the race, bringing home my second victory in the Ginetta Cup!
Result and Standings
This win means I earn 16 points more over this round than Jeroen Jongen, which is much needed in my fight against him in the championship heading into the final round next weekend. Bonner’s third third place means we have had the same three drivers on every podium. However, if Vornam will participate in Silverstone, I am sure there will be a different name on the podium.
I now have a seven point lead over Jeroen, who in turn has a 49 point lead on Bonner who is 57 points of 4th place Pavel himself. It seems the top three is already set in stone, but for the size of their trophies. The battle for 4th is equally interesting, with Pavel, Oscar and Andreas being in close contention.
I hope you once again enjoyed this video and write-up. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy participating in, feel free to register for our Ginetta Cup (there are still a couple of spots open for registration) and jump in our discord!
For the latest news you can also follow me on twitter @felixdicit, or @the_pitbox.
