Further podium finish for SPS automotive performance at Brands Hatch

At the fourth event this season of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at the long-established Brands Hatch circuit, Valentin Pierburg (GER) and Dominik Baumann (AUT) achieved another podium finish in the Pro-Am class in the #20 Mercedes-AMG GT3. In the second race of the weekend, the duo clinched their seventh podium in the eighth race of the season by finishing third.

In the first race, Valentin Pierburg in the black #20 Mercedes-AMG GT3 started from third on the grid in the Pro-Am class. In the early stages, Pierburg had to relinquish one position on the demanding Brands Hatch track, but kept contact with the podium places throughout his stint. After Dominik Baumann took over Pierburg’s car at the pit stop, he fought for third place for a long time. But due to lapped traffic and a long full course yellow phase, which lasted until the finish, Baumann finally had to settle for fourth place.

At the turbulent start to the second race of the weekend, Dominik Baumann made up a few positions in the overall standings as the starting driver, but initially remained in fourth place in the Pro-Am class. An early safety car phase put the brakes on the black Mercedes-AMG GT4 with start number 20 catching up with its direct competitors. After the restart, Baumann was stuck in traffic with competitors from other classes and was again unable to launch an attack on the podium places. With a well-timed mandatory pit stop, the team finally made up one position and Valentin Pierburg, who had taken over from Baumann, was then in third place in the Pro-Am category. Pierburg secured his seventh podium finish in the eighth race of the season in the Sprint Cup of the GT World Challenge Europe in his final stint. Before the final event of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup in Valencia at the end of September, the team from Willsbach is now third in the hard-fought Pro-Am classification, but still has a chance to decide the championship in its favour with a good result.

Already next weekend, SPS automotive performance will start the penultimate round of the Endurance Cup of the GT World Challenge Europe at the Nürburgring, where the team will again compete with two Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

Dominik Baumann, #20Mercedes-AMG GT3: “It was a tough weekend for us. In the first race, unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace to push further up the grid. We made some changes for race two, which worked well. But at Brands Hatch it’s not easy to move up when you’re a bit further back. I think we managed to get the best out of it. Next weekend we have the next race at the Nürburgring. I’m really looking forward to that.”

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