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South African Gavin Cronje and his Belgian co-driver Nico Verdonck finished fourth and second in the two races making up the third round of the Formula Le Mans Cup series for prototype sports cars at Portimao in Portugal at the weekend. They placed second overall and increased their lead in the inaugural championship for single-make sports cars.
The pair, who won both of the first two rounds of the new series in the #8 car prepared by the top French DAMS team, were slowed by handling problems in the first race on Saturday afternoon, which was won by Samuele Buttarelli/Jerome d’Ambrosio in the #11 DAMS entry.
Verdonck drove the first stint and led in the opening laps before the car started oversteering and he dropped back to third behind Formula 2 driver and Formula Le Mans debutant d’Ambrosio.
The Belgian handed over to Cronje who also struggled with oversteer but fought hard for a place on the podium and pressured eventual third-place finisher Gary Chalandon/Dimitri Jalbert (Boutsen Energy Racing) right to the chequered flag, the final gap being less than a second after an hour and 34 laps of the 4,65-km circuit.
In race two on Sunday morning, Cronje (who drove the first stint) and Verdonck combined well to finish second behind DAMS team-mates Buttarelli and d’Ambrosio. The Italians, making a debut guest appearance in the series, did not score championship points and Cronje and Verdonck consolidated their lead over nearest rivals Valle Makela and Mathias Beche (Hope Pole Vision Racing), who finished fifth in race one and third in race two.
The DAMS team worked on the car overnight and Cronje reported that it was much improved on Sunday.
“The team did a great job on the car for Sunday’s race and it was much better,” added Cronje. “Although we weren’t at our best this weekend, we’re very pleased to have finished ahead of our closest rivals in each of the two races.”
The next round of the Formula Le Mans Cup series is at the Nurburgring in Germany on August 21 to 23.
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