24.09.2008 Niko second at Spa Niko's international season continued last weekend in the race of Belgian GT Championship at magnificent Spa Francorchamps circuit. Niko shared Westend Racing prepared Porsche 997 GT3 Cup together with team owner Jorma Vanhanen. Already in Friday's free practice session Niko had good pace and set the fastest time 2.31.4. This time went very close to reference time which is defined for cars in Division 3. "There are FIA GT3 cars in Division 1 and it is like a main class in this championship. Technical regulations for Division 3 are more free but their speed is limited by reference time which isn't allowed to broken in qualifying or race" Niko explained this special rule. After Nurminen clocked time just 0.4 seconds above the reference time, organizers decided to drop reference time limit to 2.29.00. Maybe because of this huge relegation, there was a lot of confusion when Niko, who raced first time in Spa, set the time 2.28.45 in first qualifying session. Penalty was set and Westend Racing Porsche dropped to last place in grid. "Of course it's annoying to lose pole position in our class, but on the other hand I got nice publicity by setting this laptime. I left behind many fasters Division 1 cars" Niko said. Race was driven in nice and warm conditions in Sunday. Niko made the start and after 20 minutes he was already leading the Division 3 and finally increase the lead to more than 10 seconds before heading to pitlane for the first of two mandatory driver changes. Due to fast wearing of tyres, Westend Racing decided to change them on every stop. "Immediately after the first stop we realized that we have choose completely wrong tactic. We might got better results if we had continue with slippery tyres and just change the driver during pitstops" Niko says. There was 20 minute safety car period just after Jorma Vanhanen started his stint. When he achieved mandatory 35 minutes behind the wheel, Westend Racing Porsche 997 head to the pit for Niko's final stint. Gap to class leader was already more than one minute, so Niko's task was secure the second position. Like always, he got through last part of the race with great reliability and secured first ever podium finish for Westend Racing in international race. "Second place feels pretty good, especially when we are first timers here. We made big mistake today in tactic point of view, but fastest laptime in Division 3 shows that we have speed enough" Niko told. Next time Niko and Westend Racing is in action at Zolder 18-19 of October when Belgian GT Championship has the final race of the season. << back to news