WestCoast Racing didn’t score any points in the first race at Sachsenring. The first qualifying was cancelled due to an accident which meant all teams started the first race in championship order. WestCoast Racing started in 23rd position.

Martin Matzke took the start and drove the first stint. He performed strong and brought the team up to ninth position. Unfortunately he got a drive-through penalty after an incident with the Stuck Aston Martin. A penalty he felt was too harsh.
”I was on his inside when he turned so I don’t feel it was my fault and it’s hard to get a penalty for that,” Martin says. ”I had a really good stint and it was a lot due to the car. Fredrik also had a strong stint but he got stuck in traffic and had to defend his position at the same time as he had to try and overtake so it was very difficult. We have a really good chance for tomorrow with a better starting position and a strong car. A top 5 position is in our reach.”

Fredrik Lestrup drove the second stint of the race and got stuck in traffic. He had problems advancing as he was in a group of cars fighting over position the whole stint.
”Martin did a great first stint and was very solid. His drive-through penalty feels very harsh and it mean our chances to score a point in this race dissapeared. I got out in the middle of a group of cars and had a lot of traffic. I’m not happy I got stuck there and I’m dissapointed I couldn’t advance but the Porsches were very quick on the straights. I’m not happy and P17 is of course not good. The positives are that we have a really good car and we finished the race with it. We have a good chance for tomorrow with P8 on the grid with a fast car, the team has done a great job preparing the it and we have a good chance for a top position tomorrow. We are looking forward to the Sunday race!”

WestCoast Racing starts in eight position tomorrow. Fredrik Lestrup who drove the qualifying for Sunday’s race will then take the first stint.

Result, race 1 Sachsenring

The third race weekend in ADAC GT Masters is held at Sachsenring in Germany. After a difficult start to the season WestCoast Racing now aims for a trouble free race weekend from start to finish. Fredrik Lestrup looks forward to return to Sachsenring, a track where he has been succesful in other categories.
”It’s one of my favourite tracks and a track where I’ve always felt strong,” he says. ”It’s interesting and I believe it will suit the BMW really well. I look forward to the weekend, we won a GT-race in Sweden last weekend and there we found some things we want to try at Sachsenring. It’s about time for us to have a trouble free weekend and our goal is of course to finish both races in really strong positions.”

Martin Matzke also believes the track, a track he likes himself, will suit the BMW and feels optimistic ahead of this weekend.
”I know the track well and I think we will see two very tough races here. We need progress and this is an aero track where I think our car will be competitive. The track is quite difficult with several technical parts and different lines so it should be an interesting weekend. I’m feeling positive.”

Links:

ADAC GT Masters site
Time schedule and track information
Live-timing

An early exit for WestCoast Racing in the Sunday race in ADAC GT Masters at Zandvoort. Martin Matzke was forced to retire on the third lap after he was hit by a Porsche and pushed into the barriers. He returned to the pits and was forced to retire, obviously very dissapointed.
”It was wrong already from the start as they should not have released the field,” he said afterwards. ”Further down the grid there were big gaps and several lanes. I lost some places but could start gaining them back as the car felt very good. On the third lap I was clearly on the inside of the Porsche when he just turned into me, I don’t know what he was thinking. He pushed me into the barrier and back on the track I hit a Camaro which bent the steering arm. This incident was completely unneccessary.”

Fredrik Lestrup had to realise the race ended early without him getting a chance to drive today.
”Of course I’m very dissapointed. The car felt really good in the warm-up and I was looking forward to the race. Unfortunately it looked like a lot of drivers drove too aggressive today. There was nothing Martin could do, he just got pushed off the track and that was the end of our race. We’ll return at Sachsenring, a track I really like,” Fredrik said.

The dissapointing end to the weekend left Dick Jönsson Wigroth a bit puzzled with what he think was unneccssary reckless driving.
”There was nothing Martin could do about this. It looked like too many drove to reckless today. The risks are just to high when you start further back and it almost feels like a lottery whether you will get through it or not. This must improve, now we have a lot of work to do before we can return at Sachsenring.”

Result, race 2 ADAC GT Masters, Zandvoort

WestCoast Racing scored its’ first points for the season in the first GT Masters race of the weekend at Zandvoort today. Fredrik Lestrup and Martin Matzke drove a solid race and could secure a points finish in another exciting GT Masters race. Fredrik drove the first stint and managed to avoid trouble in the first corner in another tight start. He kept a competitive pace throughout the rest of the stint but lost a lot of time behind a slower Porsche in the early stages.
”The start was good but the guys in front slowed down quite a lot which forced me to brake and lose two guys around the outside. It got very tight and I didn’t want to take any risks in the start and instead make sure we got through clean. Unfortunately that dropped me just behind a Porsche who was faster in the wrong places and drove very nervous and defensive. It took me some time to get past him but finally I could push through. Once clear of him I quickly caught the pack fighting over fifth to eight place before it was time for my pit stop,” Fredrik said.

After half the race Fredrik turned over to Martin Matzke who could secure tenth position in this stint and take the first points of the season.
”We whould be happy with scoring points today,” Fredrik continued. ”Our season really just start this weekend. We have the pace for the top, we just need to get everything together at the same time. These races are close, the speed down in P20 is just as high as at the top so qualifying is very important. When we get everything together we will give everyone a fight.”

Martin Matzke drove a solid second stint and could secure tenth place. He reentered the track in the middle of a pack and had a close fight for a few laps with the Farnbacher Ferrari before he could open up a gap.
”Fredrik did a good job in the start which gave us the possibility to score points today,” Martin said. I focused on just driving safe and get us to the finish. I managed to increase the gap to the Ferrari but unfortunately the Mercedes in front of us was a little bit too far away for me to catch them. I had a good stint, the balance in the car was good and the tyres felt good throughout the stint.  had to adjust my lines slightly to find more grip but it was never a big issue.”

Martin will now start tomorrows race from row 10 on the grid in position 20.
”It will be a very tough start right in the middle of the field tomorrow. The start today seemed to be quite good so hopefully it will be the same tomorrow. We will try to gain some places tomorrow and maybe be able to fight for points again.”

Provisional resultat, top 10 ADAC GT Masters race 1, Zandvoort:
1: D. Alessi/D.Keilwitz, Chevrolet Corvette 35 laps
2: S. Knap/J. de Boer, BMW Z4 + 0,411
3: R. Renauer/J. Bleekemolen, Porsche 911 GT3 R + 34,841
4: J. Krohn/N. Verdonck, Ford GT GT3 + 35,409
5: D. Lunardi/M. Martin, BMW Alpina B6 + 35,741
6: J. Stuck/F. Stuck, Aston Martin V12 Vantage + 36,054
7: S. Asch/M. Götz, Mercedes Benz AMG SLS + 38,010
8: D. Baumann/H. Proczyk, Mercedes Benz AMG SLS + 41,911
9: F. Stoll/D. Dobitsch, Mercedes Benz AMG SLS, + 45,349
10: F. Lestrup/M. Matzke, BMW Z4 + 53,570

Official results, race 1 Zandvoort

Fredrik Larsson ahead of Richard Göransson. That is the summary of the third and final testday in TTA that ended at Anderstorp Raceway today. Both drivers enjoyed a very good testday and their fastest times in the morning stood up for the rest of the day putting the two of them at the top of the time sheets. Fredrik Larsson had the fastest time overall and was very pleased with his testday.
”A very good testday where we could follow our plan from start to finish and could end up with fastest time as well. We have followed our plan with both qualifying and race simulations and gathered a lot of important information. It’s great to see Richard be equally fast, it gives us plenty of useful information to compare. The car is great fun to drive but also very demanding and it’s really close. This will be a tough and fun season,” Fredrik said.

Richard Göransson was very pleased with his three testdays and the amount of work he and the team has managed to get done. Today he could drive both qualifying and race simulations and his best time was a mere 54 thousands of a second behind the best time of Fredrik Larsson.
”We’ve had three great testdays. The whole team has been focused and determined and the fact we finish these three days by being first and second and with all four cars in top eight is a representative sign of our work. We have achieved what we came here to do and gotten a lot of information out of these three days. I’ve learned a lot about how the new car is to drive and the mechanics have learned a lot about how the car is to work with. The car is hysterically fun to drive and absolutely fantastic when you find the right settings. I’m ready and very eager for the very first TTA-race ever next weekend,” en enthusiastic Richard summarized.

The sisterteam WestCoast Racing also had a good final day. Andreas Ebbesson was sixth overall on the final day and was pleased with his testprogram.
”It’s been a good day I’m very pleased with. We have worked hard today with different kind of tests and we have also had time to do qualifying and race runs. The car is demanding but a lot of fun to drive and you really need to be focused behind the wheel.”

Team mate Martin Öhlin could bounce back from a difficult day yesterday and had a whole day of running today. He set the eight best time.
”It worked much better today and we have gotten a lot of important work done today. We can finally start working with the car now and it’s great fun. I’m really looking forward to the first race weekend.”

This concludes the official TTA testdays. The team will now make the final preparations ahead of the season start at Gelleråsen next weekend.

Anderstorp Raceway test – Day 2 – Top 10

1 Fredrik Larsson BMW SR 1:33.586
2 Richard Göransson BMW SR +0.054
3 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 +0.212
4 Stefan Söderberg Citroën C5 +0.260
5 Robert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +0.292
6 Andreas Ebbesson BMW SR +0.603
7 Linus Ohlsson Saab 9-3 +0.630
8 Martin Öhlin BMW SR +0.684
9 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.693
10 Tommy Rustad Volvo S60 +0.726

Complete results, downloadable file