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Top 10: Benjamin Mazatis scores his first points at the Red Bull Ring

Top 10: Benjamin Mazatis scores his first points at the Red Bull Ring
June 14, 2017

Top 10: Benjamin Mazatis finishes at the Red Bull Ring
the first points

  • First championship points in the GT4 European Series Northern Cup
  • Eighth place in the overall standings and a pole position at the Red Bull Ring

The result feels huge and I'm super happy with the points.

Benjamin Mazatis - Race driver in GT and endurance motorsport
The second race in the GT4 European Series Northern Cup was on the agenda for Benjamin Mazatis last weekend in Austria. At the Red Bull Ring, the 19-year-old RYS Team Pankl driver showed a clear upward trend compared to the season opener in Misano. Together with his team-mate Arne Hoffmeister, the racing driver from Bruckmühl in the KTM X-Bow GT4 made it into the top 10 of the field of over 60 drivers for the first time.
 
After only managing 23rd on the grid in the first qualifying session on a damp track with a dry set-up, the duo put in a spirited recovery in Race 1. In an eventful race, Mazatis held his nerve in his 320 hp car and made up 14 positions in the first half of the race before the driver changeover. This laid the foundation for a strong eighth place and the first four championship points of the season.
 

For the second race on the Formula 1 circuit in Styria, his team-mate achieved a superior pole position. With this excellent starting position, the pair were initially in the fight at the front of the field. However, shortly after Mazatis had taken over the car, a defect put an end to their dream of a podium finish. At the next race at the Slovakiaring from 15 to 16 July, Mazatis intends to attack again.

2018 01 03 1 Benjamin Mazatis – Racing driver in GT and endurance motorsport

FOUR questions for Benjamin Mazatis

Benjamin, congratulations on your first championship points in the GT4 European Series Northern Cup. The race was hard work for you...

Thank you very much, it feels great and I'm super happy with the points. That was indeed a tough race. There was a scary moment at the start when two cars collided in front of me and I had to swerve through the grass. It was really a matter of millimetres and unfortunately I ended up in last place as a result. However, the safety car kept the field together and I started a race to catch up after the neutralisation. By the time the drivers changed, I had moved up to 17th place again. Arne then made up more positions and snatched eighth place on the very last lap. If you look at the course of the race, that really is a fantastic result.
 

How did you lay the foundations for this success?

Definitely the set-up. Things didn't go perfectly in the first practice session and we were only able to work on the set-up in the second session. In addition, the balance of performance was adjusted again afterwards, which meant that the work done in practice no longer had the same significance. For qualifying, we had to decide on a set-up the evening before and opted for a dry set-up. That was quite a gamble and I was at a big disadvantage in the first qualifying session due to the rain. That's why I only managed 23rd on the grid. However, it paid off in qualifying for the second race and we took pole position.
 

In the second race, you were in the lead for a long time, but in the end it wasn't enough for the podium you had hoped for. What happened?

We were overtaken by a few rivals right at the start, as they had a top speed advantage on the straights due to the balance of performance. Unfortunately, after I took over the car in fourth place, I started to get a lot of oversteer in the left-hand corners after a few laps. I had a nice battle with some of my Reiter Engineering team-mates, but then unfortunately the car broke down. That's a great pity, because we could definitely have finished in the points again.
 

In just over a month, you will have the opportunity to make up for the points you lost at the Slovakiaring. What do you expect there?
I've only driven there once before. The racetrack is very demanding, it has many fast corner combinations and is therefore very technical. But with these characteristics, it should suit our KTM X-Bow GT4 well, which is why I think we have a good chance of scoring more points. The Red Bull Ring wasn't the perfect track for us and things went very well here, so I'm optimistic about the Slovakiaring. If everything goes perfectly, we might even be able to mount an attack on the podium.

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