In season 2023 Konsta Lappalainen has been the only Finn who has competed in international GT World Challenge Sprint racing series. Now in penultimate round, which was driven in traditional iberian circuit of Valencia, he and his italian team mate Giacomo Altoe collect two points positions.
For Saturdays one hour race Konsta Lappalainen collect 4th starting position in qualifying. However in the race Emil Frey Racing drivers weren’t able to defend the position and therefore 7th highest Championship points were a big disapointment.
Furthermore Sundays’ qualifying didn’t also go as planned as Altoe collect starting position P16. Even in the race Ferrari 296 GT3 duo made thrilling passes and picked up positions, 6th position in overall standings was again complitely different result they had hoped for.
– The only thing I could be happy for this weekend is my own qualifying result. 0.146 seconds slower than Pole Position driver tells that my speed is there. However in both races we were forced to notice that new Ferrari 296 GT3 is very difficult to make overtakes. However when driving on clean air the performance is very good. Therefore we suffered a lot when trying to pass our fellow competitors and therefore results weren’t what we had hoped for, Lappalainen tells.
– In Championship standings we dropped into 34,5 points from bronze medalist drivers and therefore all hopes for medal positions in this years series are now gone. However it still doesn’t change our plans for the Dutch Zandvoort finals as our goals are still set for podium positions. In qualifyings I’ve been strong and therefore my target is to pick up front-row starting grid which also would mean a possibility to drive for a victory, Lappalainen shares his thoughts.
The star drivers of the weekend was another Emil Frey Racing drivers, spanish Albert Costa and his dutch team mate Thierry Vermeulen as well as italian Mattia Druidi and swiss Ricardo Feller who rised into 2nd position in overall standings. Druidi and Feller heads the final weekend just by 6,5 points behind series leading drivers Raffaele Marciello and his team mate Timur Boguslavskiy.
Final results GT World Challenge Sprint, Valencia #1, Saturday 16th September 2023, Overall top-3:
1. Raffaele Marciello (SUI) & Timur Boguslavskiy (ANA), Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, 38 laps
2. Albert Costa (ESP) & Thierry Vermeulen (NDL), Ferrari 296 GT3, +0,380s
3. Mattia Druidi (ITA) & Ricardo Feller (SUI), Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, +5,214s
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7. Konsta Lappalainen (FIN) & Giacomo Altoe (ITA), Ferrari 296 GT3, +18,403s
Final results GT World Challenge Sprint, Valencia #2, Sunday 17th September 2023, Overall top-3:
1. Charles Weerts (BEL) & Dries Vanthoor (BEL), BMW M4 GT3, 36 laps
2. Mattia Druidi (ITA) & Ricardo Feller (SUI), Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, +0,820s
3. Albert Costa (ESP) & Thierry Vermeulen (NDL), Ferrari 296 GT3, +1,764s
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6. Konsta Lappalainen (FIN) & Giacomo Altoe (ITA), Ferrari 296 GT3, +3,764s
GT World Challenge Sprint Europe standings 8/10 rounds, PRO-group, top-3:
1. Raffaele Marciello (SUI) & Timur Boguslavskiy (ANA), 82p
2. Mattia Druidi (ITA) & Ricardo Feller (SUI), 75,5p
3. Charles Weerts (BEL) & Dries Vanthoor (BEL), 68,5p
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7. Konsta Lappalainen (FIN) & Giacomo Altoe (ITA), 32p
Images from GT World Challenge Sprint Valencia 2023:
