Bitter Sweet Weekend For Mika And Team Rhino's Leipert Motorsport Team

Blancpain Endurance Series

The second racing weekend of the Blancpain Endurance Series saw mixed results for team Rhino's Leipert Motorsport at the new Navarra track in northern Spain. As their Portuguese trio Duarte Felix da Costa, Lourenço Beirão da Veiga and Ricardo Bravo finished 3rd in the Pro/Am ranking in their orange/black Lamborghini Gallardo GT3. The sister car with the Finn Mika Vähämäki, Dutch driver Olivier Tielemans and German Dennis Vollmair suffered a technical problem but still managed a 21st place.

Qualifying - Mika Vähämäki showed his promise again, this was a relief to the young Finnish driver as it was fair to say that the pre race testing at the Spanish track had not gone without its difficulties. Having only arrived at the circuit on the Friday for the first time Mika had to learn the circuit with very limited laps, the tight twisty track did not suit Mika's fast flowing style in which he excels, therefore some work with the team's new engineer and some data from Peter Kox was required.
The work put in on Saturday evening and Sunday morning showed immediately as Mika stepped out the car with a broad smile after his qualifying session, Vähämäki had secured a 7th position in Q2. His time was unfortunately withdrawn following a yellow flag incident by team mate Oliver Tielemans but never the less it was rewarding to see Mika get to grips with the track. The entire team was equally thrilled with Vähämäki, again underlining the cars performance and showing to be the team's strongest driver.

Race - Vähämäki started the race, having got bulked at the start and losing some positions he soon made these up and was consistently one of the fastest drivers on the circuit during his 1 hour stint, on bringing the car safely in to the pits and handing over to Dutch team mate Oliver Tielemans, Oliver was able to rejoin the race in 7th position shortly after the safety car had been deployed. However, after a short time, the compressor of the pneumatic gear change overheated and switched off. Dutch Tielemans could not change gears anymore and had to enter the pits. After 20 minutes of repairs, the car got back on the track in 28th position with young German Vollmair behind the wheel. Vollmair had excellent lap times and steadily gained positions so, in the end, he finished 21st having gained 7 positions.

Ingo Leipert, Team Manager of rhino's Leipert Motorsport, said: "I am very satisfied with the outcome of the second weekend of the Blancpain Endurance Series. Despite the red lights for car no. 6 and the defect compressor of its sister car, we have once again seen a good performance of both cars and drivers. It goes without saying that our international trio in car No.7 would surely have finished among the top 5 had we not had the compressor problems. Also, our Portuguese drivers performed excellently, and the three were rewarded with a third place."

The forthcoming racing weekend of the Blancpain Endurance Series is also the highlight of the season. On 30th June, 2011, the 24 h-race at Spa-Francorchamps is on the agenda, over the coming weeks the entire team will be working on their individual performances so as to have the best possible chance of success at this punishing Belgium event.