After a few problems on Saturday Farnbacher Racing was able to turn fate in the second run of the International GT Open in Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday and secured themselves a win. It’s the second victory of the season for the Lichtenau team with the Lexus RCF GT3 with the siblings Dominik and Mario Farnbacher leading the championship by five points now.
Tactics and technical issues in the first race
Farnbacher Racing tried to gamble in Saturday’s Qualifying and had Dominik start with a used set of tires to be able to have a fresh set for the 70 minutes race. Dominik Farnbacher therefore qualified only tenth but had an awesome start at which he gained four positions. Through a little mistake he landed on the fake grass though that is hard to accelerate on and lost some positions again. But the guy from Ansbach wasn’t discouraged by that and instead fought to get back to P6 during the following 10 laps.
But the next throwback came quickly. One lap before the pit window opened Farnbacher realized he had a puncture on the left rear which he inflicted on his tire when running over carbon parts. The Lexus rolled to the pits slowly so that the crew was able to switch the tire. But at the pit stop also the starter motor broke, making it impossible for the team to start the car again. The crew had to replace that one as well, which cost the team a finish in the points. They decided to take the Lexus out of the race and to concentrate on Sunday instead.
Strong comeback on Sunday
With the qualifying on Sunday Farnbacher Racing already returned to their usual strength. During the pouring rain Mario Farnbacher took the Lexus RC F GT3 to the third position on the starting grid and even started from P2 when a competitor had to withdraw his participation due to an accident.
The younger of the two brothers lost a position during the race though and handed the Lexus to his brother Dominik on P3 during the pit stops in the middle of the race. During the start of Dominik’s stint the race track was still dry but it started to rain heavily soon on certain parts of the track. Dominik had to get the Lexus safely back to the pits to take his place on P4 behind the Safety Car and the competition.
12 Minutes before the race ended race control waved the green flags again and Dominik Farnbacher started his hunt for the lead. He overtook one competitor after the other to finish the race on the first place with a lead of 6 seconds.
Dominik Farnbacher:
“It didn’t go as well as expected on Saturday and we couldn’t get any points. All the happier we’re now about this second victory in the GT Open. The whole team did an amazing job, we went at a good pace and were rewarded for all the hard work in the end. Now we’re going home very happy and are looking forward to the next race in two weeks time.”
For car manufacturer Lexus this victory was already its fourth in the fourth race of the International GT Open season 2017. The Lexus sister car driven by Emil Frey Racing secured the third win for the Japanese company on saturday.
In two weeks Farnbacher Racing will return to the GT Open’s race tracks. From 9th-11th of June the fifth and sixth run of the season take place on the Circuit Paul Ricard.