Blancpain Endurance Cup Silverstone

SMP Racing gave Ferrari its first Blancpain Endurance Series victory for six years at Silverstone on Sunday (12th May), after a frantic three hour race on the Grand Prix circuit.

The Pro class crew of Mikhail Aleshin, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon had to work hard for their victory, coming from 10th place on the grid to take the lead with just 17 minutes to go.

The grid was jumbled after a red flag in Qualifying 1 left several fast cars at the rear of the field, which would become significant following events on lap 1. Christian Engelhart lead the field away in the #63 GRT Lamborghini, holding off the pair of Orange 1 FFF Huracans into Copse corner. Further back, chaos ensued as the Phoenix Racing Audi of Ivan Pareras spun coming onto the Hangar Straight, causing a chain reaction incident which elminated several cars.

The #26 Sainteloc Audi, Pierre Ehret’s Ferrari 488, the Garage 59 Aston Martin of Come Ledogar and Michael Meadows were eliminated on the spot, causing a lengthy safety car period. When the race went green again, the Lamborghini mounted trio of Engelhart, Franck Perera and Dennis Lind held onto the top three places, followed by Pieter Schothorst in the #55 Attempto Racing Audi and Jordan Pepper in the first of the factory Bentleys.

Further back, Alex Buncombe in the sister #108 Bentley suffered a puncture after contact, dropping the car to the back of the field and out of contention.

With 53 minutes on the clock and the first round of pitstops starting, the leading GRT Lamborghini suffered a puncture at Copse Corner. Engelhart was forced to drive an entire lap with the deflated car, dropping the car off the lead lap.

This gave first place to Dennis Lind in the #563 Orange 1 FFF Lamborghini, 6 seconds ahead of his teammate Franck Perera in the #519 car. The leading car was first to pit, and fate meant this was the wrong decision as a Full Course Yellow just after their stop handed an advantage to the chasing pack.

Following the yellow, Phil Keen was now in the lead in the #519 Lamborghini, ahead of a battle for second place between Ezequiel Perez Companc and the #72 Ferrari now driven by Miguel Molina. Molina made a decisive pass at Club shortly after the race went green and set off after the leading car.

At the halfway point the race was neutralised again following a nasty accident for Taylor Proto in the #555 Lamborghini. Proto was exiting the pits as Salih Yoloc was passing by in the Oman Racing Aston Martin. Yoluc did not see Proto and the pair touched, sending the Lamborghini hard into the barriers on the inside of the circuit.

With 72 minutes left on the clock the race went green for the final time, and Andrea Caldarelli in the #563 Lamborghini pounced, relieving Molina of second place with a superb pass. This left Orange 1 FFF in first and second as the final round of stops commenced.

Giovanni Venturi emerged from the stops with the lead in the #519 car, but was being hunted down by a charging Davide Rigon in the SMP Ferrari. Rigon cruised up behind the Lamborghini at the rate of a second per lap, but having caught Venturi he could not find a way past. The leaders circulated less than a second apart for several laps. Behind the leading two, a nice battle for the final podium place was brewing between Jack Hawksworth (Strakka Mercedes), Dries Vanthoor in the #2 Team WRT Audi and Marco Mapelli in the erstwhile race leading #563 Lamborghini.

With half an hour to go, Mapelli had found a way past Vanthoor for fourth place and set off after Hawksworth in the Strakka Mercedes, needing to find three seconds by the chequered flag.

With just 17 minutes to run, Venturi made a tiny error, running slightly wide at Luffield. This was all the invitation Rigon needed, the Ferrari driver seizing the opportunity and the lead. Finally free, Rigon built a lead of 2.6 seconds to take a long overdue win for Ferrari.

The battle for third ended with contact between Mapelli and Hawksworth, Mapelli spinning and suffering rear suspension damage, with Dries Vanthoor taking third place for WRT Audi amidst the chaos.

In the Silver Cup, the #19 Grasser Lamborghini took class honours, while in Pro Am, the #74 RAM Racing Mercedes took victory on the road, but was later handed a time penalty for causing a collision, giving victory to the #52 AF Corse Ferrari.

Words and photography by Rich Crawford.

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