Bentley wins Blancpain GT Series' Paul Ricard 1000km
Bentley took its first Endurance Cup victory in the Blancpain GT Series for three years in Saturday evening's Paul Ricard 1000km
Andy Soucek, Maxime Soulet and Vincent Abril claimed the win aboard the #8 M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 after six hours of racing in the day-night event.
They triumphed by just over half a minute over the SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 shared by Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina and Viktor Shaytar to take the lead of the championship ahead of the blue riband Spa 24 Hours round next month.
The Ferrari had qualified second and held that position until it lost time during the first round of pitstops and spent rest of the time playing catch-up.
Soulet said: "The car was perfect and everything went according to plan.
"We stopped early under the full course yellow, which was the key today.
"It was a risk, but it paid off."
The winning Bentley was among a raft of cars to make its first pitstop during a full course yellow period shortly after the race was 30 minutes old.
This gave them a crucial advantage over the pole-winning HTP Mercedes-AMG GT3 with which Yelmer Buurman led for the first hour.
The Mercedes, which the Dutchman shared with Adam Christodoulou and Luca Stolz, repeatedly returned to the top of the order as the different strategies cycled through.
It pitted out of the lead with 40 minutes to go, but rejoined in third more than a minute behind the Bentley before retiring.
That allowed the factory WRT Audi R8 LMS driven by Rene Rast, Antonio Garcia and Nico Muller to come through to take third position.
Rast moved the car past Alex Buncombe in the #23 RJN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 and Daniel Juncadella's Auto Sport Promotion Mercedes in the closing stages to claim the final spot on the podium, albeit 49 seconds behind the Ferrari in second position.
Juncadella and team-mates Renger van der Zande and Felix Serralles took fourth, while Buncombe faded to fifth in the Nissan he shared with Katsumasa Chiyo and Matt Simmons.
The WRT customer Audi driven by Robin Frijns, Jake Dennis and Stuart Leonard took sixth.
The Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 that won the opening two rounds of the Endurance Cup with Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Christian Engelhart could only finish 13th after receiving a one-minute stop-go for avoidable contact.
Pro-Am honours went to the Barwell Lamborghini team for a second consecutive BGTS enduro.
Patrick Kujala, Martin Kodric and Adrian Amstutz again took the victory from the TF Sport Aston Martin V12 Vantage, in which Salih Yuloc joined Jonny Adam and Ahmad Al Harthy, though with a bigger margin of victory than at Silverstone in May.
RESULTS - 170 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | A.Soucek, M.Soulet, V.Abril | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 6h01m17.768s |
2 | V.Shaytar, M.Molina, D.Rigon | SMP Racing | Ferrari | 29.272s |
3 | A.Garcia, N.Muller, R.Rast | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1m19.230s |
4 | R.van der Zande, F.Serralles, D.Juncadella | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 1m22.658s |
5 | L.Ordonez, A.Buncombe, K.Chiyo | RJN Motorsport | Nissan | 1m37.964s |
6 | S.Leonard, J.Dennis, R.Frijns | Team WRT | Audi | 1m55.276s |
7 | F.Albuquerque, C.Schmid, F.Salaquarda | ISR | Audi | 1m56.528s |
8 | P.Schothorst, F.Vervisch, C.Mies | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1 Lap |
9 | C.Haase, M.Winkelhock, P.Terting | Sainteloc Junior Team | Audi | 1 Lap |
10 | E.Mortara, M.Meadows, R.Marciello | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
11 | M.Simmons, S.Moore, M.Parry | RJN Motorsport | Nissan | 1 Lap |
12 | A.Amstutz, M.Kodric, P.Kujala | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
13 | A.Caldarelli, C.Engelhart, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
14 | A.Al Harthy, S.Yoluc, J.Adam | Oman Racing Team with TF Sport | Aston Martin | 1 Lap |
15 | J-L.Beaubelique, N.Bastian, J.Gounon | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 2 Laps |
16 | S.Tordoff, D.Fumanelli, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | McLaren | 2 Laps |
17 | N.Hommerson, L.Machiels, A.Bertolini | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
18 | K.Heyer, I.Dontje, P.Assenheimer | MANN-FILTER Team HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 2 Laps |
19 | A.Mattschull, R.Salikhov, M.Malucelli | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
20 | O.Morley, M.Toril, M.Griffin | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 2 Laps |
21 | N.Pohler, L.Filippi, F.Crestani | Lazarus | Lamborghini | 2 Laps |
22 | D.Chaponick, B.Sandberg, S.Heckert | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 3 Laps |
23 | P.Lathouras, M.Rugolo, A.P.Guidi | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
24 | L.Machitski, M.Ramos, R.Abra | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 3 Laps |
25 | J.Caygill, H.de Sadeleer, J.Venter | Team WRT | Audi | 4 Laps |
26 | C.Krognes, M.Jensen, N.Menzel | Walkenhorst Motorsport | BMW | 4 Laps |
27 | R.Renauer, J.Haring, A.Renauer | Herberth Motorsport | Porsche | 4 Laps |
28 | J.Duyver, M.Zanuttini, D.Perel | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 4 Laps |
29 | J.Green, K.van der Linde, F.Stippler | ISR | Audi | 4 Laps |
30 | H.Walkenhorst, D.Schiwietz, S.Vancampenh. | Walkenhorst Motorsport | BMW | 4 Laps |
31 | P.Ehret, R.Penttinen, R.Mastronardi | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 8 Laps |
32 | M.Broniszewski, A.Rizzoli, M.Cressoni | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 9 Laps |
33 | L.Stolz, A.Christodoulou, Y.Buurman | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 17 Laps |
34 | M.Seefried, J.Hirschi, C.Klien | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 18 Laps |
35 | G.Smith, O.Jarvis, S.Kane | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 20 Laps |
36 | A.Watson, D.Stoneman, J.Jaafar | Strakka Racing | McLaren | 21 Laps |
37 | S.Costantini, A.Amici, D.Lind | Raton Racing | Lamborghini | 21 Laps |
38 | C.Fleming, N.Leventis, L.Williamson | Strakka Racing | McLaren | 24 Laps |
39 | L.Frey, S.Ortelli, A.Costa | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 29 Laps |
40 | J.Eriksson, M.Buhk, F.Perera | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 46 Laps |
- | G.Piana, H.Haupt, M.Engel | Black Falcon | Mercedes | Retirement |
- | S.Richelmi, N.Berthon, B.Treluyer | Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
- | T.Blomqvist, B.Spengler, M.Palttala | Rowe Racing | BMW | Retirement |
- | A.Liu, D.Rizzo, T.Vilander | AF Corse/Spirit of Race | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | G.Guilvert, C.Kelders, M.Rostan | Sainteloc Junior Team | Audi | Retirement |
- | E.P.Companc, R.Giammaria, N.Siedler | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | M.Martin, A.Sims, P.Eng | Rowe Racing | BMW | Retirement |
- | E.Sandstrom, F.Schiller, D.Baumann | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | Retirement |
- | G.Fisichella, M.Cioci, J.Calado | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | B.Baguette, G.Venturini, M.Mapelli | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | D.Perfetti, L.Badey, A.Fontana | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | Retirement |
- | M.Fassler, W.Stevens, D.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
- | M.Beretta, S.Gattuso, A.Piccini | Ombra Racing | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | B.Delhez, M.Stursberg, G.Vannelet | Team HB Racing | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | C.Mateu, G.Maggi, M.van Splunteren | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | B.Barnicoat, R.Bell, C.Ledogar | Strakka Racing | McLaren | Retirement |
- | C.Wood, M.Helistekangas, T.Enge | Reiter Engineering | Lamborghini | Retirement |
- | M.Ishikawa, L.Bontempelli, O.Beretta | AF Corse | Ferrari | Retirement |
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