What the Drivers Say....After Qualifying

Dominik Baumann
Nr 44 Heico Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
“We found a really great setup for the track here. It’s my first time here in Zandvoort. When we went around the track, I noticed it was a very high speed track and very technical, but now we’re normally on pole, the car is great to drive here, really easy. From 11th we hope we can get onto the podium today. It’s a really old track and really not the easiest when you’re here for the first time. There are easier tracks.”

Christiaan Frankenhout
Nr 45 Heico Motorsport Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
“I was going to drive the Clio here this weekend, and I still am going to, but I was trying to help Heico Motorsport, because I know the track. I got a call 45 minutes before first free practice and they said ‘okay, you have to drive because Filip is really sick. He has a stomach infection or something and is really ill.’ I wanted to drive here, but it wasn’t possible because they only allow 6 SLS to drive in one weekend, and the 7th would have been too much, so I’m really happy to drive now. The performance of the car is good. What Dominik said, he didn’t know the track, and I’ve been driving it 10 years already, but it’s only been touring cars here, so it’s a little bit of a disadvantage to do it in a GT3 car now, because you have very different references about how you have to drive on this track. It’s still nice to drive and the car is really good here, the SLS is really good in the high speed corners, and that’s where we make up the most time. We did a really good time, so hopefully we can make up a lot of places this afternoon.”

Paul van Splunteren
Nr 1 Prospeed Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R
“It was a real surprise to be on pole, because I was really pleased with my time this morning and my place, as the Porsche is not the easiest car here; we don’t have much downforce, it’s very bumpy, it’s really a challenge to drive the car flat out to the top. Chris was the first one to break the news to me that I’m on pole. I was very proud and really pleased for the team; we’ve had a really tough season so far, but we have already got a win. The team did a really great job and found a nice set up. I think the track is really hard on the tyres for our car, but at least we can start up front. Compared to what they did in the 2nd session, I don’t think my team mate had the best of luck in that session, as he’s only at p19. So we have one race where we have an opportunity to score, I hope we can reach the podium. It would be great to finish the season here at my home track. I’m very pleased and proud of the time; I’d never thought I’d be able to do a 1:39 in this car here. It’s a lovely track, a bit tricky here and there, and it’s quite challenging. So thanks to everyone, I’m really enjoying this day.”

Christopher Haase
Nr 33 Belgian Audi Club WRT Audi R8 LMS
“I’m really happy. It’s a pleasure to come back to the FIA GT3 European Championship and to start on pole position. Of course the race will be very hard, I think we will have a very strong race for the first 30 minutes, but I think we can manage that, but every race is really difficult and you have to see what happens by the chequered flag. I have to thank our team, WRT, because they did a great job. They gave me an unbelievable car that was very fast and constant. We’ll see what happens after the chequered flag. The Audi R8 has improved since I won the championship. I drove the first car in 2009 when we won the GT3 championship, and after that point the car has improved, in small details, but these are necessary because every year the series is stronger, and you need a bit of a modification, and Audi did a great job with that in this case. The car is much better.”

Stefan Rosina
Nr11 Gravity Charouz Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
“This is my second start in GT3 and on the front row. The first time I drove this car was yesterday, and it’s my first time here and it’s unbelievable for me. I’m happy. We shall see what happens tomorrow, but we need to score points, and obviously if the setup of the car wasn’t great I wouldn’t be there, so thanks to the team and everyone and that they called me. I’m really enjoying the race track which is fantastic because I’ve never driven it. You can’t really calculate what’s going to happen in the race. You just need to enjoy it and I would basically like to finish the race because it’s quite narrow, so it should be quite interesting in the first lap. We’ll see how it goes today and tomorrow.”

Mike Parisy
Nr3 Graff Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
“It’s quite good for us, because my team mate is very regular too, so I think we have the best performance. The race is going to be very difficult because we don’t know the track very well. Yesterday morning during the first practice we had some problems with the tyres, so we didn’t choose the track and the car, so we were late, I think that in qualifying I could do better, but I need more training on this track.”

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