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