Blancpain Endurance Series, Monza, 14/04/2013

Markus Palttala finished 36th in the opening round of the expanding Blancpain Endurance Series in Monza, Italy. The Marc VDS BMW Z4 nr.4 driven by Markus, Henri Moser and Nicky Catsburg was running as high as 6th, highest of the BMWs, when failing brakes forced Catsburg to pull in for repairs and the race was practically over.

”To be frank, we made a miscalculation that lead to this result which is a disaster for everyone involved. Nevertheless, the season has only just started and our pace in the race was very positive. We had some trouble prior to qualifying and hence started only 27th but we had already climbed to 6th and were closing in on the eventual podium scorers. We knew it’s going to be tough here as this circuit really doesn’t suit the BMW, so it was nice we were so competitive. I enjoyed my own stint having good fights and passing a bunch of cars while moving into top 10 and up to 6th. I’m also really happy with our driver line-up and the entire car #4 crew. We’re the underdogs, but we work well together and there’s loads of potential, so I’m sure we’ll be on the podium soon. Having said that, the BES is tougher than ever with 60 GT3 cars going for it and it’s not just quantity, but the level of teams and drivers is real high, so you really need to get everything right to score well.”

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