Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Nick Catsburg finished 6th in Pro Cup after a brake failure lead to a longer pitstop, which dropped the Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 #4 trio from podium contention. The sister car of Martin, Leinders and Buurman finished 2nd securing the Team Championship title for Marc VDS Racing Team.
“We really were not lucky this year in BES. Again, we were one of the strongest cars out there and were on the way to finish on the podium. However, one of the brake pads failed leading to unscheduled service and we had to settle with 7th overall, 6th in the Pro class. Still, we won the Team Championship and that was our main target this year. In car #4, we did our part for it during the season and we are all very happy with the first title the Marc VDS Racing Team has won during its 5-year existence. Congratulations and thank you to Marc van der Straten and every single member of our team. Thanks also to Henri and Nicky for being awesome teammates and to the amazing car #4 crew for pushing with us.”
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For the first 10 hours of the legendary endurance race, the Marc VDS BMW Z4 GT3 #4 of Markus Palttala, Nicky Catsburg and Henri Moser was either leading the 60+ strong pack of the best GT cars Europe has to offer, or hot on the heels of the leading Manthey Porsche. The intriguing battle between these two came to an abrupt end when Catsburg parked the #4 on the side of the track with a failed alternator.
“This is right up there with the biggest disappointments I’ve had in racing. We were doing so well and were leading the race for hours and had every chance to bring it home, but had to retire with a minor electric problem. In fact, it was just a cable of the alternator that was bent and broke off. Still, I’m really happy with our performance. We were quick throughout the week, starting from the first outing when I posted the 2nd quickest lap of the practice. Nicky then went on to qualify 4th in Superpole and all 3 of us were quick in the race. I’m really proud of my teammates who drove like heroes and the entire car #4 crew, because the entire week we were the strongest BMW and that is something considering our two sister cars were filled up with works drivers. To drop out was heart-breaking but at least we showed everyone what we can do and we also scored full points leading at the 6-hour mark which counts for the all-important Team Championship battle for Marc VDS.”
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Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Andrea Piccini finished 21st overall and 15th in Pro Cup at Paul Ricard, France, when an early race incident dropped the trio over a lap down and out of top 50 after a great start. The other Marc VDS BMW Z4 of Bas Leinders, Yelmer Buurman and Maxime Martin won the race getting Marc VDS back in the title hunt after a difficult start to the season.
“It is really frustrating that we’ve been very competitive but haven’t yet managed to get on the podium. I qualified 2nd in Q2 missing out on pole just by a tenth after I lost a few tenths behind a slower car. Henri was 6th quickest in Q2 and Andrea 9th in Q3, so we were one of the strongest line-ups and finally got to start from top 10. Henri took a good start but then got in trouble with Hummel’s Black Falcon Mercedes. The SLS had qualified 2nd but the gentleman driver was rapidly dropping down the order. Henri tried to overtake him a couple of times and got pushed off. The next attempt lead to a crash that damaged our car and got us a penalty so the race was practically over then. Too bad, because later on both Andrea and I were as quick or quicker than the leaders. We had a good car, which was also proven by our sister car taking victory – congratulations to them. Now it’s full focus on the 24 Hours of Spa where we and the entire team want to have a good result!”
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Markus Palttala, Henri Moser and Nicky Catsburg finished 5th in the 2nd round of the Blancpain Endurance Series in Silverstone, UK, despite having suffered a drive through penalty during the 1st hour of the 3 hour race. The Marc VDS BMW Z4 #4 trio started from 22nd on the grid of 57 cars but all drivers showed great pace fighting to top 5 to score valuable championship points.
”It was a very good race for us. Henri did a great opening stint taking us from 22nd to 11th. He then had to serve a penalty for passing under yellow flags and that cost us about a minute or so, but Nicky got us back to top 10 by the end of his stint. Both pitstops were perfect and I got up to 5th and started chasing the Ferrari of Zampieri running 4th. I caught him a few laps before the end but he kept pushing me off which was a bit over the limit, but I finally got him on the last lap. Unfortunately, by then the JRM Nissan that I was earlier pulling away from had caught with us, dive-bombed me and I dropped back to 5th. Anyway, it was good to finally score some decent points and it was a nice reward for the #4 crew who have been working hard for months. I did the 2nd fastest race lap and both Henri and Nicky were real quick, so the pace is there. The penalty cost us a podium this time but we’ll continue pushing hard to get up there in the coming races.”
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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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