The Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup was held at a sweltering Monza circuit


Mercedes-AMG GT3, K. Lendoudis_S. Al Faisal_R. Aguas

Mercedes-AMG GT3, K. Lendoudis_S. Al Faisal_R. Aguas

 

Monza, 20-22 April, 2018

The first rounds of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the support GT Sports Club series were held at a sweltering Monza circuit over the weekend of 20-22 April. There was also a pair of support races for each of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo and Formula Renault Eurocup series, making for a hectic weekend of track activity. The main Endurance race attracted a massive 54 car entry, whilst there were 18 entries in the GT Sports Club race.



After practice sessions on the Friday and Saturday, the qualifying sessions for the main Endurance Cup race took place over three 15 minute sessions on the Sunday morning, with one for each car’s drivers, the overall qualifying time being an average of the three driver’s quickest laps. The result was that the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari, driven by Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina and Mikhail Aleshin, claimed the overall pole position. It was all very close, as the 2nd quickest car was, somewhat surprisingly, the # 54 Emil Frey Racing Jaguar, which was only 0.008sec adrift, taking the Silver Cup class pole position at the same time. 3rd fastest was the # 1 Audi R8 LMS entered by the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, which was only 0.015sec off the pole position time. The strength of the competition was emphasised by the fact that the top thirty three times were within just over a second of the quickest time. The Pro-Am class pole position was taken by #11 Kessel Racing Ferrari shared by Michael Broniszewski and Alessandro Pier Guidi. In the Am Cup class, the #89 AKKA ASP Team secured top spot driven by Philippe Giauque, Eric Debard and Fabien Barthez.

The # 72 SMP Racing Ferrari led away from pole position, hounded by the rest of the closely bunched pack, and apart from cycling through the pit stops led for most of the first two hours of the race. Then a small mechanical issue on the throttle linkage reared its head, and put it into retirement after a strong showing. This left the chasing # 1 Audi  of Vanthoor / Mies / Riberas and the # 43 and # 4 Mercedes of Buhk / Parente / Gotz and Stolz / Buurman / Engel respectively, to slug it out for the overall race win. The battle between the former two was particularly close and fraught at times, but when the chequered flag fell it was the # 1 Audi that crossed the line first, followed a scant 2secs later after 3 hours racing by the # 43 Mercedes, whilst the # 4 Mercedes was only another 12secs down the road. After its surprising 2nd overall qualifying time, the Emil Frey Jaguar, which has proved unreliable in the past, provided another surprise in the race by finishing 5th overall and winning the the Silver Cup class, driven by Fontana / Zaugg / Grenier. After the retirement of the # 72 SMP Ferrari whilst leading, there was some consolation for Ferrari fans, as the # 333 Rinaldi Racing 488 GT3 of Salikhov / Mattschull / Schwager, won the Pro-AM Cup class. In the support GT Sports Club races it was a double Ferrari victory for Mario Cordoni in his # 70 Spirit of Race entered 488 GT3.

 

Endurance Cup Race Podiums


Overall

1st # 1, Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies, Alex Riberas, Belgian Audi Club Team WRT, Audi R8 LMS
2nd # 43, Maxi Buhk, Alvaro Parente, Maxi Götz, Strakka Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3
3rd # 4, Luca Stolz, Yelmer Buurman, Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon, Mercedes-AMG GT3


Silver Cup

1st # 54, Alex Fontana, Adrian Zaugg, Mikael Grenier, Emil Frey Jaguar Racing, Emil Frey G3 Jaguar
2nd # 6, Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt, Gabriele Piana, Black Falcon, Mercedes-AMG GT3
3rd # 90, Jules Szymkowiak, Jack Manchester, Nico Bastian, AKKA ASP Team, Mercedes-AMG GT3

 

Pro-AM Cup

1st # 333, Rinat Salikhov, Alexander Mattschull, Dominik Schwager, Rinaldi Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3
2nd # 31, Derek Pierce, Rob Smith, Sebastian Morris, Team Parker Racing, Bentley Continental GT3
3rd # 53, Niek Hommerson, Louis Machiels, Andrea Bertolini, AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GT3

 

AM Cup

1st # 89, Philippe Giauque, Eric Debard, Fabien Barthez, AKKA ASP Team, Mercedes-AMG GT3
2nd # 77, Adrian Amstutz, Leo Matchiski, Francisco Guedes, Barwell Motorsport, Lamborghini Huracan GT3
3rd # 488, Rick Yoon, Pierre Ehret, Rory Penttinen, Rinaldi Racing, Ferrari 488 GT3



GT Sports Club

Qualifying Race

1st # 70, Mario Cordoni, AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GT3
2nd # 2, Karim Ojieh, Boutsen Ginion Racing, BMW M6 GT3
3rd # 3, Klaus Dieter Frers, Artega Rennsport, Ferrari 488 GT3

 

Main Race

1st # 70, Mario Cordoni, AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GT3
2nd # 2, Karim Ojieh, Boutsen Ginion Racing, BMW M6 GT3
3rd # 17, Coach McKinsey, HP Racing, Lamborghini Huracan GT3

 

 

Ferrari Entry

Blancpain Endurance Cup Series

Race #

Model

Chassis #

Team

Colour

Drivers

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

O/A

Cl.

Class Pro

 

 

72

Ferrari 488 GT3

4446

SMP Racing

Red-White-Blue

M. Aleshin /
M. Molina /
D. Rigon

44th

19th

Class Pro-AM

 

 

333

Ferrari 488 GT3

4400

Rinaldi Racing

Green-White- Yellow

R. Salikhov /
A. Mattschull /
D. Schwager

19th

1st

53

Ferrari 488 GT3

4298

AF Corse

Black-RWG St’s

N. Hommerson / L. Machiels /
A. Bertolini

23rd

3rd

11

Ferrari 488 GT3

4406

Kessel Racing

Red-Black-Grey

M. Broniszewski / A. Pier Guidi

26th

5th

961

Ferrari 488 GT3

4418

961 Racing

Red-White-Blue

A. Dermadjian / L. Bontempelli / G. Fisichella

28th

7th

51

Ferrari 488 GT3

4226

AF Corse

Green Met’-White

D. Cameron /
M. Griffin

30th

9th

Class AM

 

 

488

Ferrari 488 GT3

4432

Rinaldi Racing

Green-Black

R. Yoon /
P. Ehret /
R. Penttinen

35th

3rd

 

Blancpain GT Sports Club

Race #

Model

Chassis #

Team

Colour

Driver

Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

QR

MR

70

Ferrari 488 GT3

4224

Spirit of Race

Red-Black

M. Cordini

1st

1st

3

Ferrari 488 GT3

4210 (R1)

Artega Rennsport

Red-WB St’s

K. Frers

3rd

 

3

Ferrari 458 GT3

3606 (R2)

Artega Rennsport

Red

K. Frers

10th

 

111

Ferrari 488 GT3

4408 (R1)

Kessel Racing

Red-Black-Silver

S. Earle

4th

 

111

Ferrari 488 GT3

4212 (R2)

Kessel Racing

Red-Black-Silver

S. Earle

4th

 

20

Ferrari 488 GT3

4420

Kessel Racing

Blue-Black- Orange

C. Schiavoni

8th

DNF

53

Ferrari 458 GT3

3468

Spirit of Race

Red

F. Fangio

11th

7th

50

Ferrari 488 GT3

4296

Spirit of Race

White-Green

L. Soenen

13th

9th

488

Ferrari 488 GT3

4234

Spirit of Race

Red-Black

P. Van Glabeke

16th

DNF

33

Ferrari 488 GT3

4430

Rinaldi Racing

Green-Black

C. Hook

DNF

5th

51

Ferrari 488 GT3

4274

Spirit of Race

Orange-RWG St’s

C. Ulrich

DNS

DNS

 

Keith Bluemel          05/2018.