NASCAR GP Belgium brought a mixed result for the Speedhouse organization as they brought home a double Legend Trophy podium with Eric Quintal, but suffered from Lucas Lasserre and Matthias Hauer’s retirements on Sunday’s races.
For NASCAR GP Belgium, the Speedhouse organization fields two cars for the first time this year as the No. 64 ROCK’S/Motul Camaro fielded by Speedhouse themselves joins the Mishumotors-run No. 33 Tigha/Motul Camaro that was already present since the first round at Vallelunga.
The events that unfolds at Circuit Zolder left the team with mixed results. On the positive side, Eric Quintal was able to bring home double podium finishes in Legend Trophy once again on his first race at Circuit Zolder in Euro Series. He also brought home a Top 10 finish in the second EuroNASCAR 2 race, his first Top 10 finish in the series since the 2014 season finale race at Le Mans.
“I was discovering the Zolder circuit and I really liked it, it’s an old-fashioned circuit. I had a little trouble in the first race in the wet but I managed to stay at the track and fight to finish P2 in Legend. The second race was complicated because the Safety Car appeared 4 times. I still finished on the podium and these are good points for the championship,” said Quintal, who currently is 8th in the EuroNASCAR 2 standings.
However, things weren’t as good for Lucas Lasserre. After double Top 5 finishes at Vallelunga, issues with setup on Race 1 and a stuck throttle on Race 2 left the Frenchman with a lowly 14th place finish and a DNF respectively.
“A complicated first part for me on a wet track. Our tires couldn’t heat up, which caused a lack of grip and therefore a lack of rhythm. After a lot of work we thought we had found the direction, but it was too late for this meeting.”
“For the second race on a dry track, I started 14th and came back to P6 but on the penultimate lap, my gas pedal jammed completely. A small pebble came [inside the car] and blocked the pedal! It was quite a delicate moment,” said Lasserre on his issues at Zolder.
As for Matthias Hauer, he returns to Circuit Zolder for his first race start of 2020. The German driver narrowly misses out on a Legend Trophy podium in Race 1, but contact with another driver early in Race 2 caused him to crash into the tire barriers at Jochen Rindhtbocht.
“Very happy to be back for this meeting at Zolder with SpeedHouse. As usual the car was perfect, in Race 1 I finished just behind Eric in 4th place but in Race 2 I was hit by a competitor and I had to retire.”
“In spite of these, everything was perfect and I would like to thank the whole team for the preparation of the car and the service I received during the whole weekend. It was just perfect,” said Hauer on his return to on-track activity in Euro Series this year.
Team manager and Speedhouse’s co-founder Estelle Lombard notes that the results from Zolder will be used to strengthen the team’s Euro Series efforts.
“It was a weekend that we have to rely on to strengthen our organization and our efficiency of tuning the car on a wet track. We also need to work on protecting the pedals from foreign objects because what happened to Lucas can also happen to our second car,” said Lombard on what the Speedhouse organization had to improve for the future.
“We must now put our energy for the next meeting of Most in Czech Republic, which will take place on 13- 15 November.”
Disclaimer: Unless noted, all photos used in this article are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard / Bart Dehaese.