Steller Motorsport takes positives from Zandvoort

Steller Motorsport is taking the positives from a difficult weekend with its Corvette Z06 GT3.R at Circuit Zandvoort in the latest round of the GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS Sprint Cup, where promising pace was ultimately undone by misfortune and a time penalty in race two.

With Matisse Lismont and Jesse Salmenautio back in the car, qualifying one on Saturday was tough and saw the team start race one from P8 in class.

Unfortunately, hopes of progressing through the field were dashed almost immediately; on the opening lap of the race Lismont was collected at turn two and unable to continue, due to suffering suspension damage. Taken out of contention through no fault of their own, the team was left to regroup overnight and focus on making the most of Sunday’s running.

Qualifying two demonstrated the team’s potential with Salmenautio delivering an excellent performance to put the car third in class and 12th overall.

Ready to build on the strong grid position and contend for a podium in race two, the team were again left frustrated when a penalty was handed out for an ‘out of position start’, citing that Salmenautio had not driven directly over his designated grid spot at the start of the race. The resulting time penalty dropped the team down the order, and despite solid pace the team ultimately crossed the line eighth in the Silver class.

Reflecting on the weekend, team manager Max Daymond said, “It’s a disappointing end to what could have been a breakthrough weekend for us. We were taken out through no fault of our own, which is always hard to accept, and we were well placed for a podium in race two but, sadly, the penalty for the start infraction cost us dearly. It’s frustrating, but we’ll take the positives - we showed good pace and made big improvements throughout the weekend - and we will come back stronger at the next round.”

The next round of GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS takes place at Monza and begins on 30 May, with a three-hour endurance race taking place on Sunday 1 June.