American based New Zealand racing driver Matt Halliday has experienced a tough initiation into GT endurance racing at the opening round of the Blancpain Endurance Series held at Italy’s Monza circuit over the weekend.
Despite setbacks in practice and qualifying, Halliday and his co-drivers Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof (Austria) and female driver Rahel Frey (Switzerland), piloted their Audi R8 LMS ULTRA GT3 to 17th place out of 60 starters from the near the back of the grid.
The No. 2 Audi was competing as part of the three-car Belgian Audi Club Team WRT whose other team cars finished 4th after being baulked by a lapped car at the finish and 12th overall after stopping for a puncture.
During Saturday’s pre-qualifying session, Halliday suffered a scary off track excursion but a major setback came on Sunday when the car stopped with a gearbox problem while exiting the pit road during the third qualifying session with Mayr-Melnhof at the wheel. However, from 46th on the starting grid, a spirited drive from all three drivers saw the car climb through the field for 17th overall and 11th in the Pro category in what proved to be an action packed race.
“The Saturday incident was a bit scary but the three of us worked hard in the race to show we will be competitive in this series having set the 6th fastest lap time. Our cars were a bit down on speed but perfect pit stops and racing hard in traffic saw us constantly improve throughout the race” said Halliday after the race.
The next round of the series is scheduled to take place at Britain’s Silverstone circuit on the 2nd of June.
