SAMI-MATTI TROGEN, PODIUM FINISH IN HIS GT4 DEBUT

Races 1 &; 2 - Oschersleben, Germany 26.-28.5.2023

Time trial and race 1st - Saturday 27.5.

Sami-Matti Trogen was rightly pleased with his qualifying performance: 

"Fourth place among 30 cars is something to be really pleased with. We were also the fastest BMW. It was quite tricky because the tyres could only take two or three fast laps. The penultimate lap would have been really good, but I lost two or three tenths in traffic," Trogen analyses.

Trogen, who drove the time trial, drove the first of the two "stints". The starting position was good, but the series showed its toughness right from the opening round. Defending champion Mike David Ortmann was aiming for fourth place in Trogen, but ended up on the sand in his damaged Aston Martin after a tight battle. Trogen survived the situation unscathed and quickly got into a rhythm, right next to the podium positions.

During the first half hour, the safety car visited the track twice. The latter hit just the beginning of the pit window. The team invited Trogen in and Joulié was given the driving shift. Despite his young age, the Frenchman has three years of experience with GT4 cars and drove qualifying laps until the end of the race at the behest of race engineer Joe Schmidtler. Rookie pair Trogen-Joulié was second in the finish, just fractions of a second behind the winners. The day was complemented by Walkenhorst Motorsport's second team, Nico Hantke (GER)/Mex Jansen (NL), finishing third.

"In the early stages of the race there was little contact with (Ortmann). He had to interrupt, and luckily I was able to continue. Then I decided to save tires for Enzo. The tactics really hit the mark; We went up a couple of places in the pit stop," Trogen said.

1st race results:

1) #85 Jan Philipp Springob/Simon Connor Primm – CV Performance Group – Mercedes-AMG GT4 
2) #35 Sami-Matti Trogen/Enzo Joulié – Walkenhorst Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4 
3) #34 Nico Hantke/Mex Jansen – Walkenhorst Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4 
4) #4 Denis Bulatov/Marcel Lenerz – BCMC Motorsport – Mercedes-AMG GT4 
5) #31 Jannes Fittje/David Jahn – AVIA W&S Motorsport – Porsche 718 Cayman GT4

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23) #3 Nikolas Pirttilahti/Matias Nuoramo – Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4

  

Time Trial and Race 2 - Sunday 28.5.2023

Each of the team's drivers will run one time trial during the race weekend, on Sunday it was Joulié's turn. However, oil had spread on the track just before his fast laps, thus the pair had to settle for 9th on the starting grid.

The driver who has completed the qualifying sessions will also take the first turn. The Frenchman got off to an upbeat start and climbed all the way to sixth with his own stint. As on Saturday, the driver was called in early from the pit wall at Walkenhorst.

"Samppa" showed its pace, climbing into the podium battle. However, the battles of the opening stint had taken away the best blade of the tyres. Nevertheless, Trogen managed to sign off one race partner and finished fifth. Sister car Nico Jantke and Mex Jansen again finished third.

"There just wasn't traction. The tyre wear was much more severe today than yesterday. The impact of the qualifying position was visible, but nothing could really be done about it. Everything was at stake. It's annoying, but it's a bit of a smile," Trogen said

2nd race results:

1) #1 Mike David Ortmann/Hugo Sasse – PROsport Racing – Aston Martin Vantage GT4 
2) #54 Michal Makes/Maxime Oosten – Project 1 – BMW M4 GT4 
3) #34 Nico Hantke/Mex Jansen – Walkenhorst Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4 
4) #2 Marat Khayrov/Gabriele Piana – Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4
5) #35 Sami-Matti Trogen/Enzo Joulié – Walkenhorst Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4

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21) #3 Nikolas Pirttilahti/Matias Nuoramo – Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport – BMW M4 GT4

  

Points standings after 1/12 races:1) #

85 Springob/Primm – CV Performance Group – 34 points 2) #

35 Hantke/Jansen – Walkenhorst Motorsport – 32 p.

3) #34 Trogen/Joulié – Walkenhorst Motorsport – 31 p.

4) #54 Makes/Oosten – Project 1 – 26 p.

5) #1 Ortmann/Sasse – PROsport Racing – 25p.

  

The German GT4 Championship continues on Midsummer weekend 23-25 June in Zandvoort, the Netherlands.