Patterson And Fjordbach Confirm Pro-Am Championship Win

Mark Patterson and Anders Fjordbach put in a champion’s drive to wrap up the Fanatec GT2 European Series Pro-Am title to round out the series’ inaugural season at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Starting from pole position in the #33 High Class Racing-run Audi with an extended 17-point margin after out-scoring chief title rivals Peter Guelinckx and Bert Longin in the opener, Fjordbach’s pace in the first stint was devastating.

The Dane set fastest lap upon fastest lap to build up a mammoth 40-second lead heading into the pit window, and from thereon in Patterson nursed the car to the finish to wrap up the title in this, his last full-season programme of racing.

There was also an opportunity to celebrate Am champion Christoph Ulrich, plus first-time race winners Auto Vitesse courtesy of a debut win for the #63 Lamborghini Huracan in Cedric Leimer and Julian Piguet’s charge, as the curtain came down on a successful debut season for SRO’s latest innovation in GT racing.

If there were any pre-race nerves in the High Class garage, Fjordbach quickly put them to bed at the start of the series’ first ‘into the night’ event, blasting away from pole position and building his advantage with a series of fastest laps straight out of the box.

There was drama further back as, in contrast to the opener, Ulrich found himself facing the wrong way after contact of the apex of Turn 2, the #7 Sportec KTM sent into a half-spin, then forced to retire without completing a tour due to the damage.

That initially put Longin up into second, but the Belgian was unable to make any ground into Fjordbach’s advantage, with the task of overhauling the points leaders then made even harder after Piguet made a move stick to annex second place in the Lamborghini.

Although the order would be shuffled around outright in the pit stops, the top three in class finished in that order, enough to see Patterson and Fjordbach crowned by 27 points in the provisional final standings.

It was Gorini who rose through the pack to assume second on the road, the LP Racing Porsche taking an emphatic maiden win among the Am runners to end the campaign on a high note.

Cyril Leimer made it a podium finish in each class for Auto Vitesse, completing a superb debut weekend in the category for the team with second to Gorini, 24 seconds adrift at the chequered flag.

In what has often been a silver-laden season, Kris Rosenberger and Hans Joachim Stuck rounded out the year in third, ‘Strietzel’ making some early progress up the order before handing over to the Austrian to bring the #24 KTM home to round out the final rostrum of the season.

Anders Fjordbach: “It was a pretty challenging weekend. We had a little miscommunication in the first race, so we started from the pit lane. That made things a little more exciting than they had to be!

“Everything came together here in the night race. I have a lot of experience in 24-hour races and the way you need to manage the tyres. But at the end, I’m just happy that Mark can celebrate his last full season as a champion.

“There’s no doubt that High Class Racing is the most prepared team whatsoever. Everything is under control, there’s never everything left in any doubt, it just runs so smoothly. It makes the task so much easier for Mark and I, and the Audi has been a tremendous car to drive.”

Mark Patterson: “I’m trying to process it all. My first thoughts are for the ‘Great Dane’ – can you believe the lap times that Anders Fjordbach extracts from this car?! He’s so skilled, not just as a driver but as a coach, I’m very proud of how well we’ve worked together.

“I was making sure we made zero mistakes, we had a little understeer, and the tyres were going off, so it wasn’t the easiest but still very comfortable for me.

“I’ve known High Class Racing for a long time in, we’ve done a lot of races together and they put the same effort into this as anything else. This championship is going to grow, I promise you – at least fifty-percent next year, and then another fifty-percent the year after.”

GT2 European Series Paul RIcard Race 2 Result