Skip to main content Scroll Top

Podium for Benjamin Mazatis in the RYS Cup at the Slovakia Ring

Podium for Benjamin Mazatis in the RYS Cup at the Slovakia Ring
July 18, 2017

Podium for Benjamin Mazatis in the RYS Cup at the Slovakia Ring

  • Benjamin Mazatis shows strong comeback in the GT4 European Series Northern Cup
  • Bad luck in Slovakia: Outstanding qualifying performance goes unrewarded

For me, the knowledge remains that I can put the car on the front row and really compete with the best.

Benjamin Mazatis - Racing driver in GT and endurance motorsport
Spectacular racing, exciting slipstream duels and a special atmosphere: Benjamin Mazatis experienced all of this last weekend at the Slovakia Ring. The fourth event of the GT4 European Series Northern Cup season took place around 40 kilometres south-east of the Slovakian capital Bratislava.
 
Together with Reiter Youngster Team Pankl and team-mate August Macbeth, Mazatis celebrated his race premiere on the 5,922 km race track - with success. In qualifying, the driver from Bruckmühl impressed across the board and drove his KTM X-Bow GT4 to second place on the front row of the grid. Team-mate Macbeth achieved a similarly good result with fifth place on the grid for the second race of the weekend. The joy was short-lived, however, as all eight KTM X-Bow GT4s were subsequently withdrawn from the qualifying classification. Mazatis and his team-mate dropped back through no fault of their own and had to start the two races from positions 24 and 25.
 

The duo mastered this Herculean task with flying colours, especially in the second race on Sunday. Mazatis and team-mate Macbeth made up a total of 15 positions and did maximum damage limitation with tenth place. In the Reiter Young Stars classification, an internal team comparison of all drivers supported by Reiter Engineering, this meant third place. In race one, no more than 28th place had been possible after a number of incidents.

Benjamin Mazatis - racing driver in GT and endurance motorsport

FOUR questions for Benjamin Mazatis

Benjamin, congratulations on your super comeback and third place in the Reiter Young Stars classification in the second round. How satisfied are you with the result?

We really made the most of our opportunities and the point for tenth place was maximum damage limitation. The field of drivers in the GT4 Northern Cup is already very strong and the competition within the team is fierce. I took over the car from my team-mate in 21st place as soon as the pit stop window opened and drove up to tenth place. Even more would have been possible in the internal Reiter classification. Two criteria count here: Based on the five fastest laps, I would even have been second. However, the entire stint duration is also included in the evaluation and I was a bit unlucky with yellow flags and the safety car. Overall, though, it was a great result.
 

You already proved your strength in qualifying with second place. How disappointing was it that you were ultimately unable to capitalise on your good starting position?

I set the second-fastest lap of the entire qualifying session and was really happy with my performance. It felt like the absolutely perfect lap and I squeezed everything out of it - the best time in sector one also proves that. Of course, it was extremely unfortunate that we were taken out of the classification and had to start from the back. But for me, I still know that I can put the car on the front row of the grid and really compete with the front runners.
 

That's exactly what you wanted to prove in the first race. Why was no more than 28th place possible?

We had set our sights high and things looked really good at the start. From 24th on the grid, I made up a lot of ground in the first two sectors and had already moved up to 15th place. Unfortunately, I made contact with a competitor who damaged one of my tyres. I had to pit immediately and when I returned to the track, we were already a lap down. There were a few more difficulties as the race progressed and we were happy to see the chequered flag at all.
 

A quick look back and congratulations again! You achieved your A-permit for the Nürburgring-Nordschleife at the end of June during the third VLN race...
Thank you! Yes, that's been my big goal for a long time. Now I'm allowed to compete in GT cars on the Nordschleife - that makes me very proud. Unfortunately, we had to switch to the replacement car at short notice for the race. We finished ninth in our class out of a total of 20 BMW M235i Racing Cup cars in the Cup 5 class. However, the result was of secondary importance to me that day, because the joy of my A-Permit clearly prevailed. Let's see when I get the chance to drive around this legendary circuit in a GT car.

Download as PDF
Press contact
+49 (0)171.993 34 42

info@bm13.de