Double penalty offsets strong qualifying effort for Eriksson/Baumann

Press Release

Jimmy Eriksson and Dominik Baumann possessed the pace required to battle for the podium in this weekend’s Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup finale at the Nürburgring, but had their hopes crushed by the irreparable damage of two drive-through penalties.

The weekend got off to a promising start for the HTP Motorsport duo, who headed the Mercedes contingent of cars in both free practice and qualifying – taking a strong fourth on the grid for Saturday’s Qualifying Race in a field featuring 33 top-level GT3 machines.

Eriksson and Baumann, however, were forced to see their auspicious qualifying display ultimately translate into nothing as racing got underway, with two early penalties smashing their Qualifying Race hopes.

Both penalties were dealt out to Baumann during the first stint, as separate incidents first with a McLaren and later with an Audi triggered a set of drive-through sentences.

Inevitably tumbling down the order into last place, Baumann eventually handed the hamstrung #86 Mercedes-AMG GT3 over to Eriksson at just before the halfway mark.

The Swedish single-seater convert went out in hot pursuit, clawing his way back up to 23rd and consistently lapping among the very fastest on the track. While that sort of pace at least gave the HTP Motorsport duo something to smile about, the frustration of losing out on what could have been a very strong result remained the overwhelming sensation.

With Sunday’s Main Race grid formed by the outcome of Saturday, Eriksson/Baumann were faced with a difficult task from P23, although Eriksson completed a good first stint to hand the car over to his team-mate in 17th place – only for a slow pit stop to again lose the pair ground.

Rejoining the race in 22nd, Baumann then replicated Eriksson’s opening stint performance and took the car back up to a final finishing position of 17th.

“We seem to have some kind of Sprint Cup jinx dragging us down, and this weekend was another example of that,” says Jimmy Eriksson. “We started off the season with a podium and have had pretty much the same potential ever since, but we just can’t seem to have any clean weekends. On this particular occasion it was Dominik having a few situations out on track, but it just as well could have been me – we win and lose as a team, so there’s nothing to say about that. It’s just a shame that we can’t ever get the proper reward for the pace we actually have.”

The Nürburgring meeting marked the final round of the Sprint Cup season, but there is still one weekend of racing to go on the full Blancpain GT Series agenda: the Endurance Cup finale in Barcelona in two weeks’ time.

Eriksson currently sits fourth in the Endurance Cup, where things have gone a bit smoother, and heads to the Spanish showdown in top three contention.

“I have to move on from this weekend as fast as possible and recharge for Barcelona,” Eriksson concludes. “We’ve been more successful in the Endurance Cup and I really, really want to end my first season in GTs on a high. I think I’ve got a good opportunity of doing so in Spain.”

Jimmy Eriksson and Dominik Baumann end the 2017 Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup in 11th place, as the second-best Mercedes pair despite their troublesome campaign. Audi’s Robin Frijns/Stuart Leonard sealed the Sprint Cup title thanks to winning Sunday’s Main Race in Germany.

RESULTS (top five)

Blancpain GT Series | Rd. 9
Sprint Cup | Rd. 5 (finale)
Nürburgring, Germany