Jolly Old England, and the legendary Silverstone Circuit, an airfield that became a racetrack, are the setting for round two of the Blancpain Endurance Series for 2017. For round two, nothing has changed in terms of the cars and drivers entered, since the season opening race at Monza, last month. Silverstone is the home of British motor racing. Let's hope that unlike at Monza, we don't have a big crash on the first turn of the first lap. Bentley is hopeful for a win at home and Andy Soucek hopes both of their cars can fight for a podium and a win, here at Silverstone. Jaguar, two cars for Emil Frey Racing also have their home race. Alberto Costa of Spain, is their lead driver, and wants to have a good result.
DTM racer Jamie Green is here, to race for the first time in a GT3 car. He admits he has a lot to learn. He's teamed with Jake Dennis and Robin Frijns. Fellow Brit, Alex Buncombe, for Nissan, also has high hopes after a race to forget in Monza last time out. Lamborghini has started very well in the Sprint and Endurance Blancpain GT races. Stay tuned for coverage of the Sprint race at Brands Hatch. Yours truly will have an update on that race, soon. Daniel Juncadella of Spain is now racing in Mercedes' GT squad after racing in DTM for a number of years. Johnny Adam put in a great final stint at Monza and won Pro Am with Aston Martin. Could he be in contention for a win at Aston Martin's home track?
In Am Cup, there will be a McLaren 650S that will race at the Spa 24 Hours later in the summer. Automotive journalist Chris Harris is one of the drivers in Am Cup and he will be a part of the driver's strength. Harris is actually getting his start to prep for Spa, here at Silverstone. He is in the #188 Garage 59 entered McLaren 650S alongside fellow Brit Chris Goodwin and Sweden's Alexander West.
Ferrari will also be one to watch for. Brit James Calado for Kaspersky Racing, will be one of the top teams and drivers to look out for, teamed with Ferrari sports car, and Formula 1 veteran, Giancarlo Fisichella, and Marco Cioci also of Italy. We will have the heritage pit lane and heritage pit straight used here at Silverstone, in the full Grand Prix course at Silverstone. The sports cars use that pit lane, as opposed to the one reserved for Formula 1. Bentley has won here before. They hope to do well. McLaren and Aston Martin are the other British brands.
Mirko Bortolotti for Lamborghini wanted pole, but he will start the race in the Grasser Lamborghini. The final formation lap is underway, as we are ready to race next time by. Felix Seralles is on the outside pole. Seralles, from Puerto Rico is at the wheel of the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3 sharing with Daniel Juncadella of Spain, and Frenchman Tristan Vautier, a man who has experience in sports cars and in open wheel racing. One car has problems. That's the McLaren of Alexander Wesr, in car #188. He will have to start in pit lane in an aforementioned Garage 59 entry.
Now, we are getting set to race. Through Woodcote they come, and we're ready to race. Green light, on! Go! Blastoff as Mirko Bortollotti gets a great start with Felix Seralles second. Steven Kane in the Bentley is pushing into Maggots. Alessandro Pier Guidi is next. A clean start as someone went off the road in Becketts. One of the Lamborghini's, and it's Adrian Amstutz. This is the #77 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Amstutz, the Swiss racer, sharing with Finlander Patrick Kujala and Martin Kodric of Croatia.
They race through Stowe for the first time, and Mirko Bortolotti leads. The #23 Nissan makes a pass with Alex Buncombe at the wheel. Here comes Mercedes #84. This is a car with a strong lineup featuring Maximilian Buhk of Germany, Jimmy Eriksson of Sweden, and Franck Perera of France. It is the first of the three HTP Motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3's with sponsorship from MANN Filter. The team has other cars entered in the race with equally potent driver lineups.
Alessandro Pier Guidi is up there at the sharp end, too, in Ferrari #50 for AF Corse, that the Italian shares with countryman Michele Rugolo, and Pasin Lathouras of Thailand. Two driver penalties as the #36 and #16 get pinged, and these are the third Black Falcon Mercedes, and the second Walkenhorst Racing BMW M6. Not sure who is driving either car, but they are second tier entries for each team. The Black Falcon racer #16 has Manuel Metzger of Germany, Briton Oliver Morley, and Spaniard Miguel Toril at the wheel of it. The #36 Walkenhorst entered M6 is shared by team owner Henry Walkenhorst of Germany, fellow German David Schiwietz, and Belgian Stef van Campenhout.
Viktor Shaytar slams the door in Alessandro Pier Guidi's face, as two Ferrari's scrap. Lucas Ordonez is 18th right behind Andrea Piccini. Into Stowe, David Perel is also battling. The South African is driving in the #888 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, alongside Belgian Jacques Duyver, and Italian Marco Zannutini. Ordonez in one of the Nissan GT-R's and Piccini in a Ferrari 488 GT3, race to the end of Vale. We have a good Pro Am battle.
Out of Club, and Perelle is 29th of 55 cars entered. Off the road is Michael Bronizewski at Stowe. Tandem spinning with Stephane Richelmi and almost collecting a Lamborghini! Bronizewski is in the #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari. The Polish driver shares with Italians Matteo Cressoni and Andrea Rizzoli. Wow! Richelmi at the controls of the first of the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8s. The Monagasque is teamed with Nathanael Berthon of France, and Berthon's countryman, Benoit Treluyer, a former driver for Audi in their factory FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 program that was discontinued after the final race last year.
Franck Perera and Felix Seralles battle as Mirko Bortolotti is pulling away. Michal Bronizewski has damage and a puncture. Alexander West was tapped into a spin at Luffield and he can't restart the motor. He got whacked and spun out. Full course yellow. The gaps won't be brought down at this stage. It is still too early, and the marshals have some cleanup to do out on the road. OK. We are racing again now with a half hour gone. 32 minutes. Robert Renauer is 27th trying to go through the field. Renauer at the wheel of the Pro Am class #911 Porsche 911 GT3 R he shares with his brother Alfred Renauer, and with Jurgen Haring.
The #188 Garage 59 McLaren, that has been through the wars in their home race, will not be able to get competitive again, even though the damage is minimal according to driver Chris Goodwin. Stephane Ortelli and Edoardo Mortara, are battling with Struan Moore, Marco Cioci, and Fabio Schiller. Franck Perera and Viktgor Shaytar are going for it into Abbey corner. Blocks of cars got separated during the safety car. Into Farm corner, and we see a major traffic jam into Aintree as well. Four wide! Yikes! Lapped cars all over the road.
This is a symptom of bunching up all these GT3 cars after a restart. There's traffic everywhere. Believe it, chaps, this is no traffic jam on the motorway when you have errands to run like mailing letters and driving down to the store to get groceries. These guys are full on in race mode, and it's tricky on the track here at Silverstone. There is a one minute stop and go to Felix Seralles due to a false start and contact as we reach the 45 minute mark. The stop/go will allow him to stay on the lead lap.
Ahmad al Harthy has dropped back from Struan Moore and a couple of the other cars. The Balance of Performance, sees the Aston Martin having a higher hosepower advantage and more aero for the Mercedes, the Lamborghini,and the Audi. Frank Stippler goes inside lapping a BMW. Mercedes in the lane for it's penalty. The McLaren's are pushing with Jasmin Jafar and others. Rob Bell passes. Al Harthy gets squeezed! Wow. Close racing! McLaren vs. Aston Martin. Ahamd Al Harthy is driving the same Aston Martin, (the #97 Oman Racing/TF Sport entry), as the co-driver for Johnny Adam, who we've mentioned has become quite the GT racer, not only in Blancpain but also in FIA World Endurance Championship racing, for the Aston Martin marque.
No damage to the McLaren? Wait there is. Rob Bell will get around Jasmin Jafar. This is a battle between the team cars #58 and #59 for Strakka Racing, and they are two of four entered by Strakka in Blancpain Endurance, this season. #58 has Rob Bell sharing with fellow Brit Ben Barnicoat and Frenchman Come Ledogar. #59 is Jazeman Jafaar, and the Malaysian is sharing with two more Brits, Dean Stoneman and Andrew Watson.
45 minutes in, and we have more scrapping on the road at the end of the top 20. Christian Klien gets mugged by Rob Bell. Push, push, push. Klien is the former Formula 1 driver who ran for Jaguar and then, for Red Bull when it came under that name. Klien is in the second of the two Emil Frey Jaguar GT3s, sharing with endurance racing veterans Jonathan Hirschi of Switzerland, and Marco Seefried of Germany. Klien, is from Austria. Emil Frey has been running the Jaguar's for quite a few years now, and hopes to eventually upgrade to one of the new Lexus RC F GT3's similar to the ones run by 3GT Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in the GT Daytona category.
Vincent Abril goes inside. Ahmad Al Harthy is still in this scrum. They are three, four wide. Marco Cioci jumped the start and Fabian Schiller also has a jump start penalty. Cioci in one of the AF Corse cars, and Schiller driving the third of the four HTP entered Mercedes AMG GT3's. Schiller of Germany, shares the #85 car with Austrian Dominik Baumann, and Sweden's Edward Sandstrom, who, has raced for at least three German makes in his Blancpain GT career... BMW, Audi, and now, Mercedes Benz.
Ooh!. Jonny Kane has crashed. This is a full course yellow. Not sure what corner Kane wrecked in. Actually, it's a sizable smash, at Becketts. The lead will; change. It looks like Jonny Kane had contact. But, no. Actually, a wheel came off and... ker-runch! There was sure confusion on the release from pit lane, and if that wheel wasn't tightened down, well, the marshals should call that an unsafe release.
Michael Meadows in car #90 is in the lead. Meadows at the wheel of the #90 AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3 he shares with DTM and sports car racer Edoardo Mortara of Italy (another who has switched from Audi to Mercedes), and with another Italian driver, Raffaele Marciello. We are now two hours and five minutes in and Gilles Vannelet has spun off. Don't hit other cars! Not sure where Vannelet is on the road, but he's in a precarious spot to say the least. Maybe it's out of the final corner at Club.
We are now back to green flag action. Michael Meadows leads Andrea Caldarelli, Pasin Lathouras, and Jimmy Erikson. Andy Soucek completes the top five as they fly through Woodcote. Out of Copse, we see Andrea Caldarelli chasing Meadows. Maxime Martin, Luca Stolz, and Gustavo Yacaman are having good races, farther down the top ten. Martin is at the wheel of one of the two Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3's that did not race in round one at Monza. The Belgian ace, and son of touring car racer and former Spa 24 Hours winner Jean Michel Martin, shares with Austrian Phillip Eng, and a familiar name to IMSA fans, Jens Klingman, who also races for BMW in the states.
The sister Rowe Racing M6 GT3 #98 has Jesse Krohn and Markus Palttala of Finland, and also GT and DTM BMW racer, Canadian, Bruno Spengler at the controls. Watch out for "The Yac Attack". He's on the move. Gustavo Yacaman, the Colombian, is in the #27 Orange 1 Team Lazarus Lamborghini Huracan GT3 sharing with Italian Fabrizio Crestani, and German Nicolas Pohler. Having also mentioned Luca Stolz, he is in one of the Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3's sharing with Adam Christodoulou of England, and with Dutchman, and vastly experienced GT driver and Blancpain competitor, Yelmer Buurman.
Less than an hour and 45 minutes to go now. At Copse, two Mercedes' spin. Luca Stolz is one. Jimmy Erikson passes Pasin Lathouras nearly under a local yellow as Andy Soucek and Miguel Molina pass Lathouras into Chapel. Ooh! Jimmy Erikson is inside Lathouras into Woodcote. He was slightly ahead at the yellow flag. Martin Kodricz is now at the wheel of car #89. Raffaele Giammaria, Rino Mastronardi, and the Jaguar of Lorenz Frey are in a battle. We have less than an hour and a half to go in this contest. Wow! A major move for second in The Loop, and going for it in Brooklands! Jimmy Eriksson and Andrea Caldarelli it looks like. If there's no gap, make a gap.
Michael Meadows is going to get passed by Jimmy Eriksson. No dice. Andrea Calaraelli si there and a spin for Bentley #7. Giancarlo Fisichella gets pinged with a penalty. Into Farm, more battles for the Mercedes boys. Erikson and Meadows are in a fair fight with Medaows having problems with backmarkrs. Meadows is all over the place. All three leaders peel off with an hour to go for final pit stops. Driver change time. Lamborghini is delayed. Wow. The Lamborghini gets the lead on pit stops. Christian Engelhart is ahead of Raffaele Marciello and \Maximilian Buhk is third.
The Pro Am leader is Patrick Kujala, the Finn, and then, Marco Mapelli, and Johnny Adam. So, the Pro Am battle is fast and furious too. Lamborghini, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, with the Barwell Motorsports entry leading in class. Kujala has taken over from one of the other drivers in that #77 Barwell Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3, either Adrian Amstutz or Martin Kodric. The Barwell squad has a sister Lambo in this race, (#78), in the hands of Richard Abra from England, Leo Machitski of Russia, and Portuguese sports car veteran, Miguel Ramos.
Jaguar covered by Lamborghini. That's Stephane Ortelli? Not sure. It's the #14 entry Ortelli shares with car owner Lorenz Frey from Switzerland, and Albert Costa, the Spaniard. Christian Engelhart's lead is evaporating. An error for the #63 Lamborghini. We are into the last half hour as Raffaele Marciello battles Christian Engelhart, and here's Maximilian Buhlk, too. Down Wellington striaght., Marciello is ahead. Bhuhk goes to second. He's right on the tail of a lapped car and out front is Engelhart in the Lamborghbini.
Through to Copse corner. Engelhart will get away from Maximilaina Buhk . Richard Abra is blocking the leaders. That's the #77 Barwell Lambo we spoke of earlier. Sorry. Abra is entered in #78. Davide Rigon is in this battle. Abra won't move. Now, Marciello and Rigon go through. Alexander Matschull is disqualified in Ferrari #333. Not sure why, but the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 has stopped being scored, or has been black flagged or something. Matschull of Germany shares with countryman Daniel Keilwitz, and Rinat Salikhov of Russia.
Jobnathan Hirschi in the sister Jaguar battles with Albert Costa in the team car. Christian Engelhart is known as a Porsche man but is running well with a Lambo. Patrick Cueilla and Norbert Seidler battle. Barwell is going to win Pro Am as we get to the end of this race. There are a couple laps left. The last lap starts now. Maximilian Buhk is the pursuer behind Christian Engelhart who has withstood loads of pressure. Into Stowe. A half a lap left. Who is going to win? Come Ledogar in one of the Strakka McLaren's is ahead of Engelhart right now and needs to move.
Can Engelhart hang on? Maximilian Buhk is right on the decklid of the Lamborghini! He's flashing the lights. He wants by. Buhk tries outside! No! It's side by side stuff at Silverstone for the win in the Blancpain Endurance Series! Engelhart, and the Wellington straight are the obstacles for Buhk. It's now or never. Luffield, Brooklands, Woodcote. Engelhart covers the inside. Through the final corners at Vale and Club. It's going to be a second or so, for the margin of victory. But, GRT Grasser Lamborghini hang on, and win Silverstone!
What a finish! That's two in a row in Blancpain Endurance Series 2017 for GRT Grasser Racing and the #63 Lambroghini Huracan GT3! The green Lambo is back in victory lane again! Christian Engelhart, Mirko Bortolotti, and Andrea Caldarelli are your overall winners!
Overall/Pro: #63 Bortolotti/Caldarelli/Engelhart Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Pro Am: #77 Amstutz/Kujala/Kodric Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Am: #488 Ehret/Mastronardi Ferrari 488 GT3
So, Lamborghini win overall, and in two of the three classes, with Adiran Amstutz and company for Barwell, holding on for the Pro Am win despite issues for their sister car at Barwell Motorsports. Am honors go the way of Pierre Ehret of Germany and Rino Mastronardi of Italy in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Next up, it is the first of two longer enduros for the championship, the 1,000 Kilometers of Paul Ricard at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track at Le Castellet, in the south of France, coming up in about a month's time towards the end of June. We'll see what happens in that race.
We'll see you, in France. For now, bye bye.
No comments:
Post a Comment