The final rounds of the International GT Open Championship brought a positive end to the season for Balfe Motorsport, securing second and fourth positions in the Pro-Am class at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The result was especially significant, as it underlined the progress the team, Shaun Balfe and Adam Carroll all made with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 package, despite completing only a partial season of competition.
The team tested in mixed conditions at the circuit on Thursday, setting the pace in the afternoon session. The clouds cleared nicely for Friday morning and the official practice sessions, setting a nice clear baseline environment for the weekend ahead. Putting in the milage, testing on high fuel levels and above all else, preserving tyres for the key sessions ahead was very much the order of the day.
Shaun took qualifying duties on Saturday morning, putting in a string of quick laps within tenths of a second of each other for eighth position.
The 70-minute race was fast and frantic, with Shaun slotting into his sixth position and quickly getting into a rhythm. The first safety car of the day coincided with the opening of the pit window and some opted to pit straight away, other a lap later.
With no success penalty carried into this round, the strategy and stop worked perfectly for the team, with Adam exiting the pits into a battle with the #17 Lamborghini of Gerhard Tweraser. A great pass into turn four gave him the position as he focused on Robby Foley ahead in the Pro Aston Martin, whilst keeping the #17 behind.
As the race progressed, this became a battle for third position, one he would retain into the final laps behind the safety car. With the Pro-Am leader opting to pit on the final lap, second position was confirmed.
Sunday was a differing prospect, as the team carried over a ten-second penalty into the race, courtesy of their race one result. Adam tried a differing setup on the Audi for qualifying and carried it into the final round.
Lining up sixth, Adam was aggressive on the opening lap, passing the #17 Lamborghini for fifth position. With the AKM Motorsport entry boxing early with a problem, this became fourth ahead of the pitstop which he took on lap 17.
The additional success penalty dropped Shaun down to fifth place, but ten laps into his stint he was able to clear the #777 of Karol Basz. The AMG wasn’t giving up without a fight and came back at him in the closing laps but was not able to make the pass.
With four podiums from eight rounds entered, the team head into the ‘off-season’ content with the progress made at the Spanish finale and aim to hit the ground running in 2022. |
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SHAUN BALFE, #22 Audi R8 LMS GT3
“P2 and a P4 is very strong result, if we could do that every race, that would be championship-winning stuff. We like to punch above our weight, but with me being out of the car so much and to be back this year with a new car and teammate, as well as racing in Europe after a few years away is so hard. With the best will in the world, no one can make up that deficit just because it’s the last round of the year. We were a little lucky on Saturday, but we had to be in the right place at the right time, so we are really happy with that second position. We were steady and consistent, and we got the result.
“The second race was enjoyable. Adam had a good stint and then I exited the pits behind a couple of Pro cars and it was reassuring that they didn’t just drive away and again it was all about the rhythm, I had a good drag race with the #777 Mercedes but overall, very positive. We arrived here with our eyes wide open, we knew we had to find time and we can only be happy with the results which speak for themselves.” |
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ADAM CARROLL, #22 Audi R8 LMS GT3
“It’s been a really good job from the team to make the car as fast as we could and a second and fourth is fantastic. The pitstop was important for the Saturday result, as initially I exited behind the Pro cars and then the #17 Lamborghini exited the pits just ahead of me into turn one. I knew that was for position, so I knew straight away I had to get him back and make it happen as he got up to speed. It was a good fight, he made the car very wide, but I got him into turn four. We were maxed out for pace, but then the safety car came out and I knew the position was safe.
“I didn’t make the best getaway in the second race as we were all a little backed up, so I had to make up some lost ground into turn one, and then in total it was three cars on the first lap, so we made it work! We’ve been testing a lot in the race weekend, and we tried something a bit different for the second race and it certainly helped, it enabled us to be reasonably quick at a circuit that doesn’t suit the car and it gave us the P4, even with the ten-second penalty." |
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