Adam Christodoulou is confident that he and partner Richard Neary have made strides in the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, despite a trouble-filled Spa double-header.
The pair converted a disappointing qualifying into seventh in race one, before a first-lap collision in a dramatic race two brought a frustrating end to a difficult event for the duo.
A late surge in the opening one-hour race saw Christodoulou muscle the Mercedes up to seventh from eleventh after taking over mid-race, and the Blancpain racer was content with the car’s performance heading into race two.
“Race one went okay, the car was handling nicely and I was able to do Eau Rouge flat-out consistently,” Christodoulou commented.
“We were in the fight for sixth at the end, but I think there was more there for us in race two.”
Any chances of battling for a podium were shattered only seconds into the final race however, Christodoulou forced to retire after being hit by the #6 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini of Sam Tordoff.
“It was very hectic at the start with everybody jostling for position. I managed to get down the inside of the AMD car, but the next thing I knew I was tagged into a spin and the Lamborghini just had nowhere to go.
“It’s a shame for the guys after the hard work they put in to prepare the car and for Richard as well, because it meant he only was only able to get two racing laps in due to the safety cars in race one.”
“It was a bitter pill to swallow because I really thought that could have been a good result,”
Having made his British GT debut at the three-hour Silverstone 500, Christodoulou is already confident that both the team and Am partner Neary are making continuous improvements heading into the penultimate round at Brands Hatch.
“We’ve definitely made progress, it’s been fun improving the car and the setup and working with Richard to try to get more out of him,
“In the end, Richard managed to go about two seconds faster than he did last year during his qualifying, that’s the quickest he’s ever actually made his way around there which obviously bodes well for the rest of the season, starting at Brands Hatch.”
Whilst Christodoulou has never completed laps of the Kent circuit in a GT3 car, the 28-year-old is hoping the car’s strong performance at the circuit in the second round of the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup will bode well heading into next month’s British GT race.
“I’m looking forward to being back racing in the UK, particularly on the Grand Prix circuit with so many challenging corners. I’ve never raced a GT3 around there before, but the AMG proved to be one of the top cars during the Blancpain Sprint race in May, so I’m hoping to have the same kind of performance when we’re there.”
