Spa 24 Hours: Marc Basseng on position 14 with the Czech Team ISR at the 24 hour race of Spa-Francorchamps

Marc Basseng Press Release

Rosenbach/Spa-Francorchamps (rol/ot) The race driver Marc Basseng from Rosenbach (Saxony) returns from the Total 24 hour race with about 60 drivers at start on Sunday (27th of July) in Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) with a good 14 th overall position. He shared the cockpit of the Audi R8 LMS Ultra of the Czech Team ISR with the German Fabian Hamprecht and the Czech Filip Salaquarda.

“We crossed the finish line and we scored a good position with our GT3 race car, which is a nice success”, the 35 year old explained, who is on overall position ten at the Pro Cup drivers ranking after the fourth season event of the Blancpain Endurance Series. Winners in Belgium have been his brand colleagues Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium), Markus Winkelhock and Rene Rast (both Germany) of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, which for Basseng drives this year as well.

“The team ISR had its 24 hour race premiere and its premiere with an Audi, so our result is even better. Of course there is not that much experience yet, which means a loss of time at the pit stops for example. But we made it until the finish line”, Marc Basseng explained, who has been FIA GT1 world champion in 2012. “Of course we had a few highlight in Spa, the car in the gravel as well as a fire accident in the pit, when fuel ignited and the Audi has been on fire. Nobody got hurt and after the flames were extinguished we were able to get back on track.”

The race must have been very exhausting due to the heat, the furious driving of other combatants, a lot of crashes and safety car phases. “But it has been great fun anyway”, the driver from Rosenbach said, who has been behind the wheel for about eight hours. The next race at the VLN long track championship for Marc Basseng is already scheduled for next Saturday (2nd of August). He will share the cockpit of the Audi R8 LMS Ultra of Team Phoenix Racing with Frank Stippler (Bad Münstereifel) at the four hour long 37th RCM DMV Grenzland race.

Photo credit: Audi Media

Blancpain Endurance Series: First podium placing for Basseng at the Blancpain Endurance Series in Silverstone

Marc Basseng Press Release

The German race driver Marc Basseng from Rosenbach (Saxony) scored his first podium placing at the Blancpain GT Series on Sunday (25th of May). He finished third at the second season event of the Blancpain Endurance Series with the three hour race of Silverstone together with his team colleagues Cesar Ramos (Brazil) and Laurens Vanthoor (Belgium) in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra for the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. Vanthoor secured the podium placing on the 5.891 km long traditional track perfectly with an overtaking manoeuvre in the last lap. Winners of the race have been the drivers of a Bentley Continental GT3 ahead a McLaren MP4-12C.

"That is all we could reach in this race. The two frontrunners have been too fast and too far away already“, Marc Basseng said, who started from position ten in the field of more than 40 cars and sat behind the wheel for the first hour. "The start was very close and a lot of yellow flags were shown as well – it has not been easy to get through there. I don’t really remember the position I have been on when I consigned the car. Anyway, the team did a great job with fast pit stops and made the podium placing possible“, the 35 year old said, who is on overall position five together with Ramos and Vanthoor at the rankings of the Blancpain Endurance Pro Cup at the moment. At the season opening in Monza (Italy, 13th of April) the trio finished fourth.

In Silverstone, the typical English weather caused a little bit of trouble at the free practice on Saturday (24th of May) and at the Qualifying on Sunday. "It rained so hard at the first free practice that we have not been able to drive at all and at the second session the track still has been very wet“, Marc Basseng said. The FIA GT1 world champion of 2012 has been the first driver of the trio in Q1 the day after on the wet track and reached position three. But then the track dried out more and more and when Laurens Vanthoor came on track with new tires, the red flag signalized the abortion of the Q3. "Unlucky for us, we couldn’t improve our time anymore. But in the end we fought hard during the race and finished third.“

Photo credit: Belgian Audi Club