Blancpain at Brands…

Blancpain Series teams filled the paddock at Brands last weekend (6th / 7th May) for the first of two rounds on these shores, Silverstone this weekend, before the championship returns to the continent.

The #63 Lamborghini Huracan of the Grasser Racing Team piloted by Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart had a clear win from a pole start in the weekends third round meeting of the 2017 Blancpain GT Series. The #17 Team WRT and #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audis chased them hard but came home 2nd and 3rd. Going into the weekend, Franck Perera and Maxi Buhk led the championship charge but after a 6th place finish Bortolotti and Engelhart now head the top of the table in the driver standings. The #42 Strakka Motorsport McLaren of Lewis Williamson and David Fumanelli took the Silver Cup win, and the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Daniel Keilwitz and Alexander Mattschull again managed full points full points for their Pro-Am Cup campaign.

Following a dominating performance in the qualifying race on Sunday morning, the bright green number 63 Lambo just could not be caught and the team crossed the line with nearly 20 seconds on there rivals in front of the 11,000 spectators that had traveled to the Kent circuit. Clearly a capable package in the right hands – the car won at Monza 3 weeks ago when the pairing were joined by Andrea Caldarelli. Christian Engelhart needs a mention as this is only the 4th Blancpain round he has competed in having come to the series in 2016 debuting at Nurburgring – out of the four he has won three of them…

During the first part of the race it was nearly a one/ two for the Grasser team but during a pitstop the #19 Lamborghini of Norbert Siedler suffered a broken driveshaft. There was contact in the pitlane between the #88 AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG and the #99 ROWE Racing BMW and the Audis then secured second and third. British driver Will Stevens in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8 battled it out for second with the #17 Team WRT Audi of Robin Frijns but with fresher tyres the Dutchman got the better of Stevens and held second along with co-driver Stuart Leonard.

Racing needs plenty of luck and lady luck was not on the side of Fabian Schiller in the #85 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG, as he and co-pilot Jules Szymkowiak started quail on the Sunday morning in last place the pair managed to fight their way past 27 cars over the two races finally crossing the line in 4th. However due to contact with the #75 ISR Audi in the early laps a 30 second penalty was issued which pushed the pair back to 17th place handing the Silver Cup win to the McLaren of David Fumanelli and Lewis Williamson. Williamson leads the Cup standings by a mere 2 points over Schiller and Szymkowiak.

A fine weekends work for Daniel Keilwitz and Alexander Mattschull in the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari in the ProAm Cup, it was a Brands debut for Mattschull. The pair managed to hold the lead ultimately crossing the line with a 10 second gap on rivals Kessel Racings TP12 Ferrari of Piti Bhirombhakdi and Carlo Van Dam. They managed to keep the Mercedes-AMG of Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Jules Gounon at bay.

Next stop Silverstone this weekend – the meeting also includes the second race of this year’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

Full results can be found here.