No Reward For Team Rhino's Leipert Motorsport Despite A Strong Performance At The 24 H Race At Spa

Blancpain Endurance Series

The 24 hours race of Spa situated in the "Belgium Eifel region" is the highlight of the Blancpain Endurance Series and also marks the halfway point of the season.

Team rhino's Leipert Motorsport made the start of the "classic of the Ardennes" with a Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 GT3, 3 Portuguese drivers - Ricardo Bravo, Lourenco Beirão da Veiga and Duarte Felix da Costa and Finish GT Star Mika Vähämäki from Finland.

Prior to the Pro AM Championship event (amateurs and pros share a car), the car starting was No. 6 and placed 4th in the Championship, so the team's goals were already set before the race which was to fight for a podium!

The historic race which was first held in 1996, had a field of 62 cars at the start, 29 of which started in the Pro Am category. Manufactures were all competing for the spoils and included; Lamborghini, Audi, Aston-Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Mercedes AMG and Porsche all pushing their cars and drivers to the limit for 24 hours was going to be a very interesting proposition.

After a rainy qualifying the orange-black bull of Team Leipert qualified for the race in 24th position of the overall ranking and in 11th position of its class. Since the focus had been more on preparation for the 24 h race than on fastest lap times, everyone was calm and relaxed in the evening after the qualifying.

After the start at 4pm on Saturday the spectators might have got the impression that this was not a 24h race but more a 30 minute sprint event. Rhino's Leipert's first driver Duarte Felix da Costa however, cleverly stayed clear of all skirmishes and handed over the car to Ricardo Bravo one hour later. The latter then had a double stint (2 hours) and when Lourenco Beirão da Veiga and Mika Vähämäki also finished their first stints of the 24 h race without mistakes, the first goal was already achieved: After 6 hours and the first stage of the race, team rhino's Leipert Motorsport was in 17th place of the overall ranking and in 7th place of its class. Consequently, car no. 6 had already placed itself into a points position.

During the following 6 hours and a few weather changes which is typical of Spa, the car and its international crew continued their fight for points and at 4 am, after 12 hours, team Rhino's Leipert was in 11th place of the overall ranking and in 4th place of its class and was how the night ended.

At dawn Team Rhino's Leipert's luck changed dramatically. They had already been on their way to reach a podium position in the Pro Am class and had at times been among the top 10 of the overall ranking. The Finish star had an incredible stint on slicks in damp conditions, Mika making a bold decision to stay on slicks whilst most of the field changed to wets. This meant that further places were made up by saving time in the pits. To add to this when the weather did dry leaving the track more suited to slick tires then the team benefited from not having to pit for a second change of tires.

The performance in this stint underlined the Finns car control and calm nature when under pressure, especially as this was his first ever Spa 24 hour race. Unfortunately at approximately 6 am the car suffered a technical defect and meant that the car had to spend over 10 minutes in the pits and dropping down the order whilst the work was carried out. The team repaired the car and it was back on track with Duarte Felix Da Costa at the wheel, however the inexperienced Portuguese driver showed his hot headedness by pushing to hard during his stint and crashing the car into the barriers at the exit of "Rivage" and putting the whole team into retirement.

This accident, which happened shortly after 7 am took away all hope of any further points for the championship. However due to a strong performance during the first half of the race the team did collect a further 9 points towards the championship and now currently places the no. 6 car in 5th place of the Pro Am ranking.

Team Manager of rhino's Leipert Motorsport, Ingo Leipert, explained: "The drop out is very agitating. We got through the night no problem and were already half way there. We lost some time during the repairs, but many of our competitors also had to deal with problems which were even more severe in some cases. The entire team did an excellent job. I'd also like to give a big compliment to our drivers Ricardo, Lourenco, Duarte and Mika. They did not lose their cool during even the worst weather conditions and were utmost reliable. Mistakes can happen, and I hope the guys can now leave all that behind, so we can continue our fight for championship at Magny Cours in 4 weeks' time!"

Following races of the Blancpain Endurance Series 2011:
27th August Magny Cours/FRA
9th October Silverstone/GB

Possible other race dates for Mika are in the ADAC GT Masters 2011:
Red Bull Ring (14th August), Lausitzring (4th September), Assen (18th September) and Hockenheim (1st October).