Thierry leaves Misano with a smile: 'A good job'
Published on 18 July 2023 by Niels Hendrix
Verstappen.com Racing is represented in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup (GTWC Sprint) by Thierry Vermeulen, who drives a Ferrari 296 GT3 of Emil Frey Racing. The 20-year-old Dutchman made his appearance last weekend at the Italian circuit of Misano, where he – together with his teammate Albert Costa – finished on a solid fifth position twice.
“We can leave Misano with a smile. We’ve done a good job as a team and I am also happy with my own performance”, says Thierry, reflecting on the GTWC Sprint weekend. “From Thursday onwards at the test, we already showed we were closer this weekend than we were in the previous weekends.”
“On Friday I felt very comfortable the moment I jumped into the car, which of course helps a lot to progress together. On Saturday we had first qualifying from Albert, who struggled a little bit to put it together, but we still managed to start from P9 and he had a very solid start from there. In race 1 I felt very good in the car, which gives you the confidence to be quick on your outlap and be consistent throughout the race. We finished race 1 on Saturday in P5.”
“On Sunday I had qualifying myself. The strategy worked, but could have been even better if we had been able to have another go in qualifying. With the two sets and only ten minutes, it's tight and in the end we only had one push lap on my second set of tyres, but I am still very happy with the result. Starting in P7 was a good position and again starting next to Mattia Drudi. Seems we're often starting next to each other on the grid so let's hope we can keep doing that in these top ten positions and not too far back.”
Thierry explains how the second race, on Sunday, went: “I had a good start, although it was quite hectic, with some good battles and I gained one spot. The first few laps I had a feeling we could attack the front, but then later on I lost some pace towards the top five. In the second half of my stint we also had a safety car. Albert did a perfect second stint and we managed to finish P5 again, which is a solid result.”
“I still believe we have to continue to improve our team work. Pit stops for example cost us potentially a podium. At this level all the little things make a difference but I’m very happy that we were closer this weekend. We finished in the points and are P7 in the championship now. We have three rounds to go in the GT World Challenge Championship so we keep on pushing and giving it our all. Now it’s two weeks off and then back to DTM at the Nürburgring.”
