- Two top 10 finishes for #63 of Aitken and Costa Balboa
- Bad luck in qualifying prevents true potential of Lamborghini
- Local driver Wishofer unable to start race two with clutch issue
Spielberg (Austria), Mai 22nd 2022
Emil Frey Racing came through an up-and-down second round of the ADAC GT Masters at the Red Bull Ring, battling to a pair of top 10 finishes for Albert Costa Balboa and Jack Aitken in the two one-hour races in Austria.
Off the back of a promising opening weekend in the championship in April, the team knew that a strong starting position for the races would be crucial to delivering a good result. The #63 finished sixth in the first race before achieving eighth in the second.
It was a difficult weekend, however, for the other two EFR Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVOs, with the #19 of Arthur Rougier and Franck Perera encountering bad luck in qualifying and managing a best finish of 10th in race one. For the #14 of Konsta Lappalainen and Mick Wishofer, a 30-second penalty for contact affected their race one result, before clutch problems prevented them from starting race two.
Practice
Three extra test sessions on Thursday offered the team a chance to further its experience of the Red Bull Ring, having last raced at the track in 2019. Following these test sessions, the weekend began in earnest with two free practice sessions on Friday, with the team’s main goal focused on finding the right balance and setup for the all-important qualifying on Saturday. Although the Lamborghini struggled in sector one against its rivals, particularly the BMW and McLaren, the 10-turn track proved universally popular with the drivers. The #63 of Costa Balboa and Aitken set the fourth quickest time in FP1, while the #14 of Lappalainen and Wishofer managed fifth fastest in the second session.
Saturday Summary
Qualifying 1
Saturday morning’s first qualifying session set the grid for Race 1, with Perera taking the #19 to the fifth fastest time, just fractionally ahead of the #63 of Costa Balboa, despite having his best time deleted for a track limits infringement. Costa Balboa was hampered by a Mercedes going off track in front of him, while Lappalainen was 15th, albeit just half a second off pole.
Race 1
Off the line, Costa Balboa got the best start among the EFR Lamborghinis and moved ahead of Perera for sixth place as the field negotiated the first corner. From there, the #63 remained in contention for a top five finish, challenging the #88 McLaren throughout the opening stint. Costa Balboa and Perera ran as high as third and fourth respectively before making their mandatory pit-stop. Unfortunately, both the #63 and the #19 had to serve a penalty lap after an infringement at their stops, leaving Aitken sixth at the finish and Rougier 10th, after the #27 Audi was disqualified post-race. Lappalainen and Wishofer finished 18th after receiving a 30-second time penalty following an incident on track between Wishofer and the #69 Audi.
Sunday Summary
Qualifying 2
The team continued its solid top 10 pace in Sunday’s second qualifying, with Aitken taking the #63 to the seventh quickest time in the session. For Rougier, it looked like pole position was there for the #19 car, but the joy was short-lived as his best time was deleted for a track limits infringement; he was eighth. Wishofer was 15th fastest, albeit only 0.35 seconds away from pole himself. Nevertheless, the team was pleased with the performance of all three cars ahead of the second race.
Race 2
There was drama even before the start of Sunday’s race as the #14 Huracán of Wishofer and Lappalainen encounter clutch problems in the pits. The team tried to make the necessary repairs but unfortunately ran out of time for Wishofer to take the start. When the race eventually began, Aitken dropped several places to 11th while Rougier also suffered a poor start and fell to 15th. The positions remained stable until the pit window as Aitken switched with Costa Balboa and Rougier handed over to Perera. The #63 moved up two places after the stop and lapped within two-tenths of the leading pace with Costa Balboa at the wheel. The car remained eighth at the flag, while Perera brought the #19 home 17th.
Team Quotes
Lorenz Frey-Hilti, Team Principal
“The results from both qualifying sessions were not too bad, but as usual in ADAC GT Masters, only a few tenths of a second are the difference between P1 and P10. In the first race we beat ourselves during the pitstops. At the start of the second race, we lost some positions, which wasn’t ideal either. But, in general the pace during the races was strong and better results would have been possible had we had better qualifying.”
Driver quote Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO #14
Konsta Lappalainen (FIN)
“Overall, it was quite a difficult weekend for the whole team. The field is so tight, and the times were so close, we had the speed but because it was so tight we couldn’t do much. Unfortunately, we had the technical problem in the second race has not helped us in the championship.”
Driver quote Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO #19
Franck Perera (FRA)
“For sure, it has been a very, very disappointing weekend after the great start to the season at Oschersleben. We showed speed, but we have to work a lot on a couple of things to improve. Fortunately, we are only in the second round so there is a long way to go, but we need to make improvements quickly because we lost a lot of points this weekend.”
Driver quote Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO #63
Albert Costa Balboa (SPA)
“I’m very happy, we had a very solid race and I remained calm during my stint because I was in a battle from P6 to P11. Step by step I was overtaking cars without making any mistakes and keeping the tyres alive, which was important. This worked at the end because I had better tyres than the others in front to score good points for the championship.”