2015 Blancpain Endurance Series

[gert]

Originally Posted by J Jay

I can see where someone as passionate as Leinders would fight his corner from what he would see as a detrimental downsizing, because that's what "restructuring" means to when you translate it from Management Speak to English...

That's how I read it too...

blabla ...streamline ... blabla ... lean ... blabla ... more efficient ... blabla ...

Nothing good can come from that
At least that's the way I feel about it, let's hope MarcVDS proves me wrong.

At work we are going through the same phase, and we're hearing the same buzzwords. Not a lot of happy faces around here.

[gert]

I also wonder what this would do for their status as factory-supported BMW team?
And the drivers? Are they linked to Bas or to MarcVSD, or BMW?

Luhr, Werner and Farfus are obviously BMW guys, as is Martin (now).
What about Paltalla (who has been with both Bas and the team for a long time now) and Catsburg?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

So Bas Leinders has "parted ways" from Marc VDS!?

Wow! That's a massive shock. Did he walk or was he pushed I wonder...

At a guess-they've won Spa and now they're winding things back a bit on the car side. This sucks. This cannot be a good thing.

[rich07]

Great to see the winning BMW chassis 1049 being retired to the BMW museum

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Makes you think Bas will be more involved with BMW Motorsport next year or set up his own team?

Unlikely, apparently BMW and Leinders are not on good terms:
http://autosport.nl/klasse/nieuws/25...-scheiden-zich

[Coach Ep]

Hmm, it all sounds a little too over dramatic - surely there have been guys who crashed their BMW - when they were in a race win contending position as well - before without getting sacked???

O well, I'm confident he'll find another employer soon - he has proven himself to be an excellent team manager (and has never been a shabby driver either!) and with GT3 booming and Ford entering the GTE ranks, a few (if not a lot) possibilities might pop up. Remember Marc VDS (with Leinders) ran the previous Ford GT's in FIA GT1 WC a couple of years ago!

Edit: dug up this quote from the official BMW press release after the Ring 24H 2014:

Bas Leinders (BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS, #26):
“It is obviously very disappointing. Marco was unlucky that a slower car made a mistake and hit him. My crash came about when I tried to avoid a car that had been forced to swerve to avoid two slow cars. You know that this kind of thing can happen on the Nordschleife, as it is very narrow, you are travelling quickly, and there is a big difference in speed between all the different cars. We will regroup and prepare for the Spa 24 Hours.

from https://www.press.bmwgroup.com/globa...tem=node__8837

That doesn't sound like a stupid drivers mistake to me. Maybe BMW didn't want their team manager to also be a driver anymore (because of the split focus) and Bas has realized he still has too much ambition to be a driver and regrets stepping away from the car (???).

Give it some time and maybe Graham or Marcel will sit down with him and do an interview.

[GT3.14]

"Marc VDS Considering BES Nürburgring Outing"

As we hoped!

[J Jay]

Quick addendum to the MVDS/Leinders split - according to Graham Goodwin (MWM this evening), Bas confirmed to him that he was pushed out of the team and that he did not want to go.

[tux]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120230

This is great news about Konrad Motorsport planning a Blancpain + Daytona, sebring entry for next season.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Quick addendum to the MVDS/Leinders split - according to Graham Goodwin (MWM this evening), Bas confirmed to him that he was pushed out of the team and that he did not want to go.

Shocking.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by tux

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120230

This is great news about Konrad Motorsport planning a Blancpain + Daytona, sebring entry for next season.

That is great news. I'm wondering what will push him to choose the Porsche or Lambo?

[pach233]

Originally Posted by J Jay

Quick addendum to the MVDS/Leinders split - according to Graham Goodwin (MWM this evening), Bas confirmed to him that he was pushed out of the team and that he did not want to go.

This is really surprising to me. The team have just won the biggest race of their history and Bas has been with them for quite a while. I do remember at one point in the stream Marc VDS himself was going around hugging and kissing the team members and I sensed some hesitation out of Bas, I was wonder if there had already been pre-discussion and Marc was just playing it up for the cameras?

I really am surprised, either there is a lot more to this that we don't know about or Marc VDS is no longer planning on having a significant presence in the GT3 endurance world.

Re: Konrad, it will be good to have them back in "proper" racing. They are a team with a lot of history. Especially good is the TUSC news, well know how much that grid needs an influx of new teams.

[TheDude]

So; no one talking about GRT wining their appeal?

Now Marc VDS moves up to second with a seven points defecit

[divxx]

Originally Posted by TheDude

So; no one talking about GRT wining their appeal?

I was waiting for more details to emerge, but it looks like the no one's in a rush throughout this whole situation. Ridiculous that it took until the end of the season for the result of the first race to be clarified, I thought this had been resolved months ago and just didn't hear about it. Maybe it had to be clear GRT had no shot at the championship before they could get a favorable ruling.

While it's great that they kept a win that probably would not have been affected by some small fuel flow rates (since they crushed the field on pace), it was a technical breach, which I didn't think would be overturned.

[Rodger Davies]

Well at least it's cleared up before the last round.

Wow: just read all the stuff about Bas Leinders; can't believe he and VDS have parted, that just doesn't seem right after watching them all be so much of a team during the race. Did anything else emerge about that?

[Coach Ep]

Nothing with regard to a possible manager position somewhere but he's still a GP commentator for the Belgian Wallonian tv plus he will be racing in the Zolder 24H with a local team this coming weekend - interestingly in a BMW! (M235i)

[rich07]

Originally Posted by divxx

I was waiting for more details to emerge, but it looks like the no one's in a rush throughout this whole situation. Ridiculous that it took until the end of the season for the result of the first race to be clarified, I thought this had been resolved months ago and just didn't hear about it. Maybe it had to be clear GRT had no shot at the championship before they could get a favorable ruling.

While it's great that they kept a win that probably would not have been affected by some small fuel flow rates (since they crushed the field on pace), it was a technical breach, which I didn't think would be overturned.

The Grasser appeal was a strange one. Why did they appeal to a Belgian court if they are an Austrian team and the race in question was on Italian soil? I can't believe it's taken this long to sort out, it's all a bit strange. It was a technical breach so the exclusion should've been upheld. Even if none of this happened their form since then has taken them out of championship contention anyway.

[Coach Ep]

The series is run by the Belgian Car (and motorsport) Federation, the RACB. Grasser protested at the meeting against the decision of the Belgian stewards, hence the original appeal was dealt with by the Belgian motorsport court of appeal. When they upheld the decision made by the Belgian stewards, the Austrian motorsport federation took the appeal on behalf of Grasser to the FIA court.

Federations and courts tend to take quite some time before concluding their cases. Nothing special in this example.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

The series is run by the Belgian Car (and motorsport) Federation, the RACB. Grasser protested at the meeting against the decision of the Belgian stewards, hence the original appeal was dealt with by the Belgian motorsport court of appeal. When they upheld the decision made by the Belgian stewards, the Austrian motorsport federation took the appeal on behalf of Grasser to the FIA court.

Federations and courts tend to take quite some time before concluding their cases. Nothing special in this example.

Thanks for clearing that up. How long has the series being run by the RACB?

[Coach Ep]

I believe since its inception in 2011. SRO mainly does promoting, scheduling, attracting teams and such, RACB 'runs' the meetings.

[scudd]

.

[rich07]

The find round of the Blancpain Endurance Series is this weekend. Really looking forward to this as I'll be able to watch this live and in full due to having just moved into a new house with decent wifi .

Looks like the title fight has come down to WRT v Rowe in Pro Cup. Should be interesting. I'm gunning for Rowe to make up for the disappointment of Spa and grab the title.

Anyone else excited?

I was so excited I thought the race was on the Saturday instead of the Sunday. Whoops

[Speed-King]

Well, we're roughly 90 minutes away from this year's edition of Ratel's infamous "state of the union" speech... could be interesting, especially in regards to the Sprint Series.

[TRspitfirefan]

http://www.racer.com/international-r...eries-launched
This could be pretty cool. Although it would be a lot more awesome if the US round was held at a place like Road America or Laguna Seca.

[Rodger Davies]

Looking forward to the race tomorrow, although I'll have to miss the start and try and find WiFi to watch the rest.

Disappointing that there'll be fixed pitstop lengths next year. First the fixed stint lengths and now this; I know the series is aimed at amateurs, but it's a pity to see this across all classes.