WestCoast Racing qualified on eight place and place 20 in the qualifying for ADAC GT Masters at Zandvoort. Fredrik Lestrup drove the first part of qualifying determining the grid for the first race tomorrow Saturday and qualified on eight place.
“Considering I’ve never driven on this track before and learn something new for every lap I’m quite pleased. We could have driven quicker still but I got some traffic on my fastest lap and had to overtake which cost us some time. My qualifying felt smooth, Daniel (Rahm, race engineer) could time our laps really well and I could get out of the pits with a clear track ahead of me every time. The track is crazy, it’s fast and with very small margins so I think we will have an exciting race tomorrow. We have more time to gain and we are still improving every time we drive the car. The BMW feels good but we will make some adjustments for tomorrow to try and improve it further,” Fredrik said.

Martin Matzke drove the second part of qualifying deciding the grid for Sunday’s race. He qualified on row 10 in position 20.
“I had two good qualifying stints but got a bit of traffic on my fastests laps. We made some improvements on the car but there’s more time to gain. The position is a bit too far back but the car feels good for the race and over longer stints,” Martin said.

The first race starts 12,30 tomorrow Saturday.

Result, Q1

Result, Q2

The second official testday in TTA finished at Anderstorp Raceway yesterday and WestCoast Racing had a focused day with some mixed results. Andreas Ebbesson was the fastest driver in the team with the eight best time overall and he was pleased with his day.
“A good day today, I think we’ve had a good pace and most importantly we have been able to do a lot of different tests.”

Richard Göransson struggled with some technical difficulties now and then but had an overall good day where the team tested a lot of different settings on the car. He had the tenth best time overall.
“A focused day for us where our focus has been to understand the car more. We hade some issues but it didn’t stop us too much. We’ve done some out of the box settings on the car to understand it better and lap times has not been our focus. We know much more about the car now and are ready for the final day on Friday.”

Fredrik Larsson was eleventh overall after some difficulties.
“A good morning where we drove a lot and had a good feeling but the afternoon was worse. I went off in one of the corners and we lost some testtime but it wasn’t too bad.”

Martin Öhlin hade the 14th best time overall after a very diffcult testday.
“We had a lot of problems today and didn’t find the balance in the car which meant I struggled under braking. The mechanics hade to work harder than neccessary for me so I’m sorry about that. They are doing a great job though and I’m not worried, we will find the balance and I will not create so much work for them tomorrow,” Martin said of this Thursday test day.

Friday is the final official testday before the start of the season next weekend. All TTA-teams resumed testing at Anderstorp today Friday.

Result, TTA testdaty2 Anderstorp, top 10:

1 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 1:34.326
2 Robin Rudholm Saab 9-3 +0.390
3 Linus Ohlsson Saab 9-3 +0.531
4 Robbert Dahlgren Volvo S60 +0.653
5 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +0.732
6 Tommy Rustad Volvo S60 +0.846
7 Daniel Haglöf SAAB 9-3 +0.891
8 Andreas Ebbesson BMW SR +0.956
9 Stefan Söderberg Citroën C5 +1.045
10 Richard Göransson BMW SR +1.045

Complete results, downloadable link

Holland and the classica Zandvoort race track is on the agenda this weekend when it’s time for the second round in ADAC GT Masters. This is the first time the championship visits the race track in the sand dunes at the North Sea and for WestCoast Racing it’s a restart after a problemfilled first race weekend at Oschersleben. Fredrik Lestrup looks forward to the weekend and a new track he hasn’t raced at before.
“Zandvoort is a new track for me and the whole team,” he says. The track should suit the BMW well, it’s aerodynamic is very strong which I think will be important here. We had a difficult first raceweekend so it’s all about a restart now. I’m charged and ready and have prepared myself by driving two VLN-races at Nürburgring since the weekend at Oschersleben. Qualifying will be important at this track, especially since the races are so close so that’s a big focus for the weekend. Let’s hope for some good weather and a smooth weekend and it will be a good weekend for us.”

Martin Matzke also visits Zandvoort for the first time and he agrees with Fredrik about the track being suitable for the BMW Z4.
“It’s a new track for me but I’ve seen some in-car footage and it looks very interesting. It seems to be faster than I expected which I think will suit me and our car well, it’s a track that demands a lot of downforce which is a strong area for our car. It we can have a clean trouble-free weekend I think we can be strong here,” Martin says.

As usual Friday starts with practice followed by the two qualifying rounds. The one hour long races with one mandatory pit stop with driver change starts on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Useful links:

ADAC GT Masters website
Time schedule and track information
Live-timing

Four very pleased WestCoast Racing drivers summarized the first official testday with the team’s new BMW Silhouette Replica at Gelleråsen race track. Richard Göransson posted the second fastest time overall in the morning session with a total of 15 out of the 16 TTA-cars running and in the afternoon session Richard posted the fastest time overall and at the end of the day he was the second fastest driver after a trouble free day in the new car.
“I must say the team have done a really impressive work. We haven’t had one single problem with the car and could start getting familiar with it straight away. Everything just worked and it’s really impressive in the very first rest run of a new race car. The car is a lot of fun to drive and now we can start working on finding the balance in the car and tune the set-up,” Richard said.

Martin Öhlin also had a good day and finished with the fifth best time overall with all the four drivers setting competitive times.
“It’s great to finally be back in action again and it’s been pretty much a problemfree day. Everyone in the team has really done a great job and enable us to start working on the car right away. We’ve started to find a base set-up and despite not chasing any times everything feels really good so far,” Martin said.

Just ahead of him was Fredrik Larsson who ended up with the fourth fastest time of the day. This was his very first outing in a TTA-car and it left him with a positive impression.
“I’ve gotten out everything I wanted from the day I’d say. The car is a bit special but a lot of fun to drive. Everything worked today so we could concentrate on getting to know everyhing. It’s been a good testday and it’s been a long time since I saw so many people spectating on a test day which is a lot of fun. Now we head to Anderstorp, a completely different kind of race track so I’m excited to see how the car will work there,” Fredrik said.

Andreas Ebbesson posted the sixth fastest time, a time he already set in one of the early runs and which stood up well during the day. He had some problems with the car in the afternoon limiting his running but still left the test feeling positive about the first day.
“You can’t expect everything to work when it’s all new but I’m still very happy with the first test day. We hade some problems in the afternoon but managed to get a lot of laps in during the morning. It’s a very fun car to drive and I already feel I will feel at home in it. We have started work on set-up and the balance in the car and now we will continue tomorrow.”

All the TTA-teams left Gelleråsen in the evening and headed to Anderstorp Raceway where the official tests will contine today and tomorrow.

Result, TTA testday 1 Gelleråsen top-10:

1 Robin Rudholm Saab 9-3 1:04.108
2 Richard Göransson BMW SR +0.175
3 Linus Ohlsson Saab 9-3 +0.235
4 Fredrik Larsson BMW SR +0.423
5 Martin Öhlin BMW SR +0.845
6 Andreas Ebbesson BMW SR +0.851
7 Fredrik Ekblom Volvo S60 +1.094
8 Stefan Söderberg Citroën C5 +1.172
9 Thed Björk Volvo S60 +1.183
10 Tommy Rustad Volvo S60 +1.502

Complete results, download link

Today the official TTA-tests kicks off and there are three important days waiting for the teams as these are the only test days before the new championship starts. Today the teams are testing at Gelleråsen outside Karlskoga, the venue for the first round just a week later. Thursday and Friday all the teams heads down south to Anderstorp for the final two test days. With these being the only test days in the completely new cars they are exxtremely important and the WestCoast-drivers are focused on getting a lot of mileage out of these days. Quadruple Swedish champion Richard Göransson has prepared himself with a VLN-race at Nürburgring this past weekend and now looks forward to get down to business with the BMW Silouette Replica
“It’s great that it finally starts. These are three very important days, they are the only days we have to get to know the car properly before racing and it’s important we don’t run into any big problems. We will be structured and I’ve prepared myself as much as possible with some racing in Germany to be completely ready for the first test lap,” he says.

He is joined in the BMW Dealer Team WestCoast Racing this season by Fredrik Larsson. The former Indy Lights and Carrera Cup driver has prepared himself with some Porsche testing at Anderstorp to come as prepared as possible for these test days.
“We have a strategy for how to work during these days and get the most out of them. They are extremely important and we must gather as much data as possible. Everything is new to us, the car, the tyres and everything and that is very exciting. It’s a fantastic feeling to experience this and I am coming well prepared for these three test days,” Fredrik Larsson says.

In the other end of the team we find Martin Öhlin who drives a BMW Siloutte Replica for WestCoast Racing together with Andreas Ebbesson. Martin has been waiting a long time to start testing the new car.
“I’ve been driving some Radical to prepare myself and I feel ready. We need to really use all of these testdays and it’s a lot of excitement with so many new things to explore which feels very motivating. It’s nice to finally be able to start,” he says.

His teammate is Andreas Ebbesson who joins WestCoast Racing for this season. The former Radical champion looks forward to get to know the new TTA-car during testing.
“It’s super that we finally are here and can start driving. This season starts later than normal and it has been a long winter waiting for this so I’m very keen on driving now. It’s important to get a lot of time in the new car and quickly get familiar with it during these next three days,” he says.

On Tuesday evening all teams gathered at the Karlskoga airfield to perform system checks and shakedowns with the new cars. Today Wednesday the teams are testing at Gelleråsen race track before heading to Anderstorp Raceway for testing Thursday and Friday.