Aliyyah Koloc ended her maiden campaign in the competitive FFSA GT4 Series with a morale-boosting top 10 finish in class at the season-closing SRO Racing Festival at Paul Ricard.
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With a field of 45 cars taking to the track for the final race weekend of the year, it was a confidence building event for Aliyyah and her team-mate in the Buggyra ZM Racing Mercedes, David Vršecky, which culminated in a 21st-place finish overall in race two and ninth in the Silver Cup class.
Race 1
The duo took part in two pre-event tests before the weekend kicked off properly with a pair of free practice sessions on Friday. Aliyyah qualified the car 39th overall on Saturday ahead of the opening race, held at night, while Vršecky was 34th fastest. Aliyyah made strong progress at the start of race one, despite visibility proving difficult under darkness. She made up several positions in the opening laps to run as high as 32nd before a spin dropped her back down the order.
“This was our first night race, I started and had a good first stint where I passed a few cars,” said Aliyyah. “I didn’t have any contact at the start which was good. But I made a mistake and lost a few positions, so I am a bit disappointed in myself.” Aliyyah managed to put this setback behind her and keep her nose clean until the mandatory pit-stops, where she handed over to team-mate Vršecky. From there, the #29 Mercedes-AMG GT4 made further progress in the second half of the one-hour encounter to come home 31st, a positive end to a mentally demanding race. “David took over and did a good job and [the most important thing is that] we finished in a higher position to what we started, so that was positive.”
Race 2
Vršecky was entrusted with the start of the second race, which was held in daylight on Sunday. A chaotic start further up the road meant that getting through the opening lap was primordial. A number of cars took to the escape road at the exit of turn one before several others spun at turns three and four, forcing the #29 to take evasive action.
“The start was a little bit crazy as there were a lot of cars crashing at the first corner, and they were going everywhere!” said Vršecky. “And then on the back straight, there were three cars altogether and it was really fair racing, some contact but it was a nice race.”
Following an early safety car, Vršecky ran inside the top 20 before handing over to Aliyyah during the pit window. Throughout her stint, Aliyyah slipped to 21st but showed good pace in the closing stages, which were full of close action with other cars, to maintain that position at the finish and finish ninth in the Silver Cup class.
Speaking about her race, Aliyyah Koloc said: “Today’s race was really good; David did a very good stint in the car. And then in my stint, I was fighting a lot in the last few laps, and I was sweating a lot! We managed to keep our position, so I’m really happy with our end result.”
In the final standings, Aliyyah finished 11th in the Silver Cup standings, capping off a hugely encouraging maiden season in the highly-competitive French GT4 series.
Contact Info:
Name: Vincenzo Aiello
Email: Send Email
Organization: BUGGYRA POWERSPORTS OU
Address: Roosikrantsi tn-2-1119 Harju maakond, Tallinn 10119, Estonia
Website: https://www.buggyra.com/
Source: PressCable
Release ID: 89083296
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