GRT Lamborghini takes back to back wins…

Blancpain teams remained in the UK following their meeting at Brands the other weekend, this time Silverstone hosted the popular Blancpain GT Series for the fifth round. The GRT Lamborghini managed back to back wins at the famous Northamptonshire circuit…

Rain pouring in the early hours made it seem like the Sunday could be on for a complete wash out, but as the forecast predicted, bang on 7am uk time the sun showed its self to Northamptonshire and began to heat up and dry out the Silverstone circuit.

Round 2 of the Endurance cup is traditionally at Silverstone and always provides a great race, there is no reason why this year would be any different. 55 cars were set to take the start of the race with the usual suspects looking strong. Bentley looking to redeem themselves, they need to maximise their points from this round after the black flag incident in round 1 at Monza…

Qualifying

Morning qualifying for the Endurance cup was set to take place on the dry track after the warmth of the morning sun had dried it up nicely, still with a few damp patches times should be quick but not ultimate pace like we might see in the race.

No.88 AKKA ASP Mercedes AMG GT3 has set the bar with a combined qualifying time of 1:59.072, two tenths quicker than the chasing No.63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini. The No. 84 HTP Motorsport Mercedes is in third with a combined 1:59.506, rounding out the second row is the SMP Racing No.72 Ferrari 488 GT3 making it 3 marques on the front two rows of the grid.

The No.7 Bentley of Kane, Smith and Jarvis sits in a respectable 12th for the home race for the British brand whilst its sister car, the No.8 is in a midfield place of 27th.

In Pro-AM is another AKKA ASP car on pole in the form of the No.87 Mercedes, Barwell Motorsport with their Lamborghini Huracan GT3 are in second position only 0.2 seconds slower. Starting third in Pro-AM is the No.333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, less than a 0.1 behind the Barwell Lamborghini.

Round 1 winners in Pro-AM the Oman Racing with TF sport Aston Martin sits in fourth in class, looking strong for the race, could the team win round 2 and really put themselves as the team to beat in the Pro-AM class.

Qualifying Gallery:

Race

As always the SRO put on a show and provide entertainment, with entertainment comes a crowd, the grid was packed with VIP’s and guests from teams plus all the crews for the squads which meant the grid was one of the busiest I’ve ever been on. The cars struggled to get to their grid slots through the masses that awaited the sight of these modern day GT beasts.

14:50 and the 55 strong grid roll off on their formation lap all on time for the 14:55 start time. The field tightly bunched together, if not more than round one in Monza, so backed up that cars were sitting out wide to give themselves space. Their initial start was aborted due to the formation being too messy by the race director and a second formation lap was begun to reset the field. This second formation lap didn’t stop the clock though, this was now part of their 3 hours, so as the field once again came through Woodcote corner they were a lot more organised and actually resembled something we’d know as a grid.

As they approached the starting line this time, the lights went out now 4 minutes into their 3 hours,

No.63 Lamborghini from GRT Grasser Racing Team, got the advantage into copse and took the lead showing they still have the speed from Monza and brands hatch last weekend.

End of lap 1 and penalties already flowed through, drive through penalties for No.16 Mercedes from Black falcon as well as No.36 BMW m6 GT3 from Walkenhorst Motorsport, plus a stop go for the No.53 Spirit of race Ferrari 488 GT3 for causing the contact with Oliver Morleys Mercedes during free practice on Saturday. One Lap Later and Another drive through penalty for Daniele Perfetti in the No.89 AKKA ASP Mercedes.

Full course yellow called less than half an hour into the race for the No.188 McLaren from Garage 59 with a puncture on the outside of Luffield corner after contact with a Mercedes in the corner. This full course caution evolved into a safety to deal with this situation to give the marshals time to do their work.

40 minutes in and Jonny Kane loses control of the No.44 Mclaren from Strakka Racing after contact with the No.31 Mercedes from Team Zakspeed. Heavily into the barrier at the beginning of the maggots baskets complex. Barriers have been damaged forcing the race to a Full Course yellow so the car can been retrieved and barriers repaired to a fit state. The Full Course yellow falls at a crucial time and teams begin to pit including all main leaders of the race.

Bortolotti pits from the lead for a full stop of tyres, fuel and driver, Andrea Caldarelli leaves in the GRT Lamborghini, after the cars begin to cycle through pit stops, the No.90 AKKA ASP Mercedes has taken the lead with Andrea Caldarelli in second in the safety car train.

After those first Sets of stops, the race did settle down and into a rhythm, close clean racing for the whole of the field with the battle at the front not calming down at all. At the half way mark it was still the No.90 Mercedes driven by Michael meadows, ahead of Andrea Caldarelli in the No.63 GRT Lamborghini and in third is the No.84. HTP Mercedes Piloted by Jimmy Eriksson, all covered by a couple of seconds after an hour and half of racing. Not far behind is the Bentley No.8 of Andy Soucek which started way back on the grid in 27th position, with quick pace and patience he’s run clean through up the field.

1hr and 5 minutes to go and all 5 top placed cars peel off into the pits for the second round of pitstops, this time Christian Engelhart in the No.63 GRT Lamborghini is released ahead of the No.90 AKKA ASP Mercedes followed by the No.84 HTP motorsport Mercedes of Maxi Buhk. Davide Rigon in 4th in the No.72 Ferrari 488 GT3 and Maxine Soulet sits in 5th position in the No.8 Bentley now all on track fighting till the end.

34mins to go and the No.333 given the black flag for not completing the drive through penalty for the un safe released during the last round of pitstops. Whilst back at the front the battle was opened up as the Barwell Lamborghini of No.76 held up Maxi Buhk of the HTP Mercedes putting the gap out to just over 4 seconds, with cars so matched on pace, it will be hard for Buhk to catch Christian Engelhart in the No.63 GRT Lamborghini.

12 minutes to go and Buhk is closing, and closing quick, sometimes catching 0.7 of a second in one sector alone. So as the clock winds down this race is back on as HTP Mercedes closes down the GRT Lamborghini, closing and closing, lap by lap Buhk brings the gap down to 0.4 of a second with less than 4 minutes to go.

Last lap of the race and Buhk is all over the read end of the No.63 GRT grasser racing team, practically pushing the Lamborghini entering the left hander at Brooklands. As they cross the line the team celebrate but only prematurely as the cars carry on as no checkered flag was waved, the cars crossed the line at 2:59:57s, they have now one lap to go, and another lap for Engelhart to hold off Buhk, but this time round Buhk doesn’t seem as close as he has been. They come through Luffield and through Woodcote on to the straight and GRT gGrasser Racing Team make it 4 from the last 4 races and back to back wins in the first two rounds of the Endurance cup, making them a serious threat for the championship already in this years series.

Pro-AM Class was another tight finish, with winners of round one in the class the Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston martin was chasing down the lead with Jonny Adam behind the wheel but finished just over 1 second behind the winning No.77 Lamborghini of Barwell motorsport in 20th place over all. Third in class was the No.87 AKKA ASP Mercedes.

Am Class was taken by Rinaldi Racing in the No.488 Ferrari 488 GT3, second was another Ferrari 488 GT3 of the No.888 Kessal Racing team and third was taken by No.36 Walkenhorst Motorsport in their BMW M6.