Blancpain: R-Motorsport take Maiden Win at Silverstone

R-Motorsport claim their maiden Blancpain series win under gorgeous blue skies at stunning Silverstone circuit.

The #76 R-Motorsport Aston martin in the hands of Nicki Thiim, Matthieu Vaxiviére and Jake Dennis qualified on pole position but not without controversy. The team never handed in their data logger which is required by SRO post qualifying, so during the autograph session, a notice is posted saying the R-Motorsport car is Disqualified from qualifying but may start from the pitlane. 15 minutes later and another notice is posted saying the team have appealed but will start from pole and race under appeal leaving the result to be in question as the appeals outcome will come after the race has finished.

Race

Walking onto the grid was probably one of the toughest moments of the weekend, even compared to this event last year the increase in people on the grid was huge, it was hard to move as a photographer let alone what the teams felt like as the cars were pushed down the grid in the heat instead of driven as the grid became far too busy to drive under power. It felt tense but joyous, teams enjoying the early summer sunshine which is a rarity in England after the winter we’ve had. You could feel the anticipation in a lot of teams up and down the grid as once again the worlds most competitive GT3 series lined up on the grid.

R-Motorsport and Vaxiviére held the lead away from the line as the green flag dropped, pulling out a few seconds over the second place #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes in the hands of Adam Christadoulou. As the field started to settle, only 6 minutes in and the first casualty hit, quite literally as Jack Manchester in the #90 AKKA ASP Mercedes crashed out at copse corner due to a puncture just in the braking area throwing the car into the wall.
The stint continued after the car was cleared away and Christadoulou pushed Vaxiviére for all he’s worth bringing the gap back down to just under 1 second as the pit stops began to cycle through.

As the cars emerged from the pit stop cycle the #88 was out in front but being chased down by Jake Dennis in the #76. It didn’t take long for him to catch and with the obvious quicker car, he lined him up for a pass and re-take the lead from Vautier to pull away to a comfortable 12 second lead. As the next round of stops came around Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim took the wheel from Jake Dennis for the final stint, pushing the gap right out to over 20 seconds before easing off and controlling the lead just to bring the car home. R-Motorsport claimed their first win in Blancpain with an 11 second lead, the squad also gave Aston Martin their first Blancpain outright win since this event 5 years ago. The Aston Martin V12 Vantage is in final years of competition with the new GT3 Vantage on it’s way but still this car is one of the quickest on the track.

Coming home in second was the #88 AKKA ASP in the hands of Raffaele Marciello, which to the squad is mission complete with the race winner still under appeal the win isn’t completely confirmed.
The fight for the final podium position wasn’t over until the very end either #1 Team WRT Audi was pushing the #113 Lexcus RC F GT3 in the hands of Norbert Siedler but couldn’t quite overcome the Lexus that looked super balanced all weekend. Bringing the car home in 3rd gave the Lexus Marque their first Podium and was a huge relief for the drivers and team as the car crossed the line.

Pro-AM

Ram Racing took the win in the Pro-AM class. the #49 Mercedes piloted by Darren Burke, Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey. Strakka Racing #42 claimed second place driven by Chris Buncombe, Nick Leventis and Lewis Williamson.
Main pre race contender #31 Team Parker Racing Bentley went out after 8 laps due to a persistent oil leak forcing the car to retire, not the race result the team wanted after the successful podium in the Monza outing for the team.

With the win under appeal we await a further decision to see wether the win stand for R-Motorsport or will AKKA ASP take the win with a post race decision.
The teams will move on to Paul Ricard now on the 1st and 2nd of June.

Thanks to SRO and Silverstone for the weekend.