Lorens Lecertua continues to make waves in the GT World Challenge Europe. During the second round of the Sprint Cup at the Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands, the Belgian impressed the crowd with the fastest lap of Race 1, a superb qualifying performance and his first victory in the Silver Cup. As an added bonus, he and his teammate Ivan Klymenko finished on the podium in the overall standings of the most competitive championship for GT3 in Europe.
Lorens Lecertua has the wind well in his sails at the moment. The breeze blowing along the Dutch coast certainly gave him wings this weekend! Competing in only his second season in GT World Challenge Europe, the 18-year-old Belgian was discovering the Zandvoort Circuit, which is back on the calendar again. It is a fast and technical track which leaves no room for error, but Lorens loved it!
“I had prepared myself on the simulator, but in reality it is something else entirely,” he smiled. “The two banked corners create a unique feature. Right from the start of practice, I felt very comfortable in our Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, which performed very well all weekend. The collaboration with the Saintéloc team was perfect, and the results followed!”
In the initial 60-minute race, Lorens took over from his teammate Ivan Klymenko after half an hour and made some impressive overtakes to clinch third place in the Silver Cup. In doing so, Lorens also set the fastest lap of the race, across all classes!
But the best was yet to come. On Sunday, during qualifying, the Sart-Bernard driver not only took pole position in the Silver Cup, but also secured a superb fifth place overall, among all the professional drivers.
On track, he remained in the leading group and even managed to gain a position. “Then our mechanics did a remarkable job during the pit stop and, when everyone had made their stops, my teammate Ivan found himself second overall. He drove superbly well and held his position. So we finished on the podium for the first time in the overall standings and won our first Silver Cup victory. It is a day I will not forget in a hurry!”
This victory puts Lorens and Ivan back within 1.5 points of the leaders in their class in the Sprint Cup, while maintaining their lead in the GT World Challenge Europe, which combines the Sprint and Endurance championships. “And the next two races will be Endurance Cup events,” explains Lorens. “On 1 June 2025, we will be at Monza for a 3-hour race. Then it is the big event of the year: the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, from 25 to 29 June 2025. The goal is clear: to maintain our momentum!”
