Blancpain Endurance Series Round 2, Silverstone

Von Ryan Racing used a bold strategy call to record a maiden victory for the new McLaren 650S GT3 on the manufacturer’s home circuit.

The factory backed #58 crew of Rob Bell, Shane Van Gisebergen and Kevin Estre took the decision to pit at the 45 minute mark as the safety car was deployed, which resulted in the car emerging with a 40 second lead after the first pitstop sequence was completed. A fantastic 70 minute fuel saving middle stint from Van Gisebergen meant Kevin Estre merely had to cruise home in the final hour to secure the win for the British squad.

Behind the dominant McLaren, the remaining podium places were filled by the #1 and #3 Belgian Audi Club WRT entries. Laurens Vanthoor mounted a late challenge for the race lead in the #1 car, having caught and passed Marco Bonanomi in the ISR Audi R8. Bonanomi would be demoted to fourth place after the race, having incurred a 5-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. This promoted the #3 WRT Audi of Frank Stippler, Stephane Richelmi and Stephane Ortelli to third place.

The early stages of the race were dominated by the Nissan GT Academy Nissan GT-R, with Wolfgang Reip leading the field away from pole position for much of the first hour. However, a collision with a backmarker, and some serious delays at the car’s first pitstop dropped the #23 car out of contention, and they finished the race in thirteenth place.

Pro-Am Cup victory went the the Leonard Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage of Paul Wilson, Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows, with Stuart Leonard having to hold off a charging Jann Mardenborough in the #22 Nissan GT-R for the win. Third in class went to the Emil Frey Racing Jaguar XKRS GT3. Am Cup honours went to Olivier Grotz and Karim Ojjeh in the Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW Z4 GT3.

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