Twin sisters Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc managed to assert themselves amongst strong competition in the first event of the cooperation between Buggyra ZM Racing and Motors Formula Team (MFT) at the French GT4 championship at Nogaro circuit. The pair, born in Dubai. finished in the top 10 of the Silver category in both races with their Mercedes-AMG GT4.
“The car was much better today. I felt much more confident than yesterday. We still have room to improve, but we are on the right road,” said Yasmeen Koloc.
In Qualifying, the two sisters took turns behind the wheel of their Mercedes-AMG. Even though it was quite cold, conditions they had not encountered in previous days, the girls set the twelfth fastest time on the grid in their Silver category.
Tight track
“Forty cars on such a tight track was a challenge during qualifying. It wasn’t easy to pull everything together, but it went well. I learned a lot,” said a happy Aliyyah.
Aliyyah also took the start of the first race on Sunday afternoon. She soon began to feel at ease and avoided crashed cars of the competition and gained experience driving behind the safety car. During the third safety car period, the team decided for a pit stop where Yasmeen took over. She bravely fought off attacks by other cars on the track and thus helped to bring the car home in eighth position in their Silver category.
“I passed several cars and the safety car came out on the track twice. Then Yasmeen took over. She kept her rhythm, we got to the front again. To finish in the top 10 for the first time is a very good result and we are very happy,” said Aliyyah.
For Race 2 on Monday, the girls started to move through the field from the first laps. This only difference was that this time Yasmeen took the start. As for Race 1, the girls swapped seats during a safety car period, thus saving a lot of time.
Immediately after having taken over, Aliyyah had to deal with a crisis situation when two competitors collided in front of her Mercedes-AMG. Thanks to her split reaction, she avoided a collision and continued her race, finishing tenth in the Silver category for the Buggyra ZM-MTF team.
'Very happy'
Erik Janiš, chief engineer of Buggyra ZM-MTF Team, commented, “We are very happy with the girls’ performance. Thanks to the strategy of pitting early, we managed to gain some positions on Sunday and got a good result. The girls raced hard, they had a lot of overtaking manoeuvres. It was the perfect first experience in such a competitive championship.”
Yaseen added, “Overall, I think we did a pretty successful job this weekend. We brought the car back in one piece which is a plus. Aliyyah and I both did a great job in our first race together. There was great team spirit and we’re looking forward to our next race together in Spa.”
The next race for Aliyyah and Yasmeen Koloc are the 12h of Spa this weekend, from 22-24 April.
