Blancpain Silverstone: VonRyan takes first win for McLaren 650S
VonRyan Racing claimed a first Blancpain Endurance Series victory for the new McLaren 650S at Silverstone with Rob Bell, Shane Van Gisbergen and Kevin Estre
The trio of McLaren factory drivers took a dominant victory, Estre crossing the line at the end of the three-hour race 23 seconds in front of the WRT Audi R8 LMS ultra driven by Jean-Karl Vernay, Robin Frijns and Laurens Vanthoor.
VonRyan effectively sealed the victory early in the race when it brought in Bell for the car's first pitstop just 45 minutes into the race during a full course yellow.
The time gained meant that Van Gisbergen emerged with a lead of approximately 40s after the pitstop sequence was complete shortly after the one-hour mark.
The Kiwi was able to extend his stint to almost to the two-thirds mark of the three hour race at the same time as maintaining the 40s gap.
Estre's lead was cut to just 15s when the best of the ISR Audi R8 LMS ultras made its final pitstop under yellow conditions, but Marco Bonanomi was unable to mount any kind of challenge for ISR.
The VonRyan McLaren took the chequered flag ahead of the WRT Audi which had overturned a 14s deficit to Bonanomi with Vanthoor at the wheel.
Bell said: "We'd done our homework and talked about it, at length actually.
"It was a tough call because we knew it would be tight on fuel, but it was the right one - it gained us about half a minute."
Stephane Ortelli, Frank Stippler and Stephane Richelmi took third place in the second of the WRT Audis.
Ortelli caught Bonanomi, who shared the ISR Audi with Filip Salaquarda and Frederic Vervisch, with a couple of laps to go but did not need to pass because the Italian had been awarded a five-second penalty for a track limits violation.
Fifth place went to the MRS Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 shared by Craig Dolby, Sean Walkinshaw and Martin Plowman, which gained time when a late final pitstop coincided with the second full course yellow.
Bentley took sixth with the factory M-Sport Continental GT3 shared by Maximilian Buhk, Maxime Soulet and Andy Soucek, which came back from a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
Pro-Am honours went to the Aston Martin Racing-run Leonard Motorsport team, which claimed 14th overall with Michael Meadows, Paul Wilson and Stuart Leonard.
Victory in the Am Cup was taken by Karim Ojjeh and Olivier Grotz aboard their Boutsen BMW Z4 GT3.
RESULT - 84 LAPS
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pro | S.Gisbergen, R.Bell, K.Estre | Von Ryan Racing | McLaren | 3h01m44.827s |
2 | Pro | J-K.Vernay, R.Frijns, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 23.281s |
3 | Pro | F.Stippler, S.Richelmi, S.Ortelli | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 44.793s |
4 | Pro | M.Bonanomi, F.Salaquarda, F.Vervisch | ISR | Audi | 48.407s |
5 | Pro | S.Walkinshaw, M.Plowman, C.Dolby | MRS GT Racing | Nissan | 56.787s |
6 | Pro | M.Buhk, M.Soulet, A.Soucek | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 59.627s |
7 | Pro | R.Salikhov, M.Seefried, N.Siedler | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 1m04.614s |
8 | Pro | G.Venturini, A.Zaugg, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1m08.715s |
9 | Pro | G.Smith, A.Meyrick, S.Kane | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 1m09.644s |
10 | Pro | N.Bastian, S.Dusseldorp, K.Graf | Rowe Racing | Mercedes | 1m26.319s |
11 | Pro | N.Sylvest, I.Dontje, D.Juncadella | Rowe Racing | Mercedes | 1m26.864s |
12 | Pro | G.Guilvert, M.Basseng, E.Sandstrom | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | 1m53.991s |
13 | Pro | K.Chiyo, W.Reip, A.Buncombe | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1m58.591s |
14 | Pro-Am | P.Wilson, S.Leonard, M.Meadows | Leonard Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1 Lap |
15 | Pro-Am | R.Sanchez, G.Paletou, J.Mardenborough | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1 Lap |
16 | Pro-Am | L.Frey, G.Gardel, F.Barth | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 1 Lap |
17 | Pro | A.Palmer, F.Babini, J.Mul | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
18 | Pro-Am | D.Cameron, M.Griffin | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
19 | Pro | A.Al Harthy, J.Adam, D.Lloyd | Oman Racing Team | Aston Martin | 1 Lap |
20 | Pro-Am | A.Karachev, D.Waszek, C.Bouchut | GT Russian Team | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
21 | Pro-Am | E.Dermont, F.Perera, H.Hassid | TDS Racing | BMW | 1 Lap |
22 | Pro-Am | M.Koebolt, S.Bottemanne, P.Schothorst | Team WRT | Audi | 1 Lap |
23 | Pro | A.Al Faisal, H.Haupt, Y.Buurman | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
24 | Pro-Am | A.Vasiliev, K.Al-Azhari, M.Asmer | GT Russian Team | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
25 | Pro-Am | A.De Leener, C.Sbirrazzuoli | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
26 | Pro | C.Bueno, S.Jimenez, F.Fraga | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | 1 Lap |
27 | Pro-Am | R.Ratcliffe, L.Mowle, J.Osborne | Triple 888 Racing | BMW | 1 Lap |
28 | Pro-Am | J-L.Beaubelique, P.Giauque, M.M.Traffort | Akka ASP Team | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
29 | Pro | K.Heyer, M.Toril, J.Seyffarth | Car Collection Motorsport | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
30 | Pro-Am | L.Machitski, T.Sardarov, J.Cocker | Team Russia by Barwell | BMW | 1 Lap |
31 | Pro-Am | D.Modell, A.McCaig, O.Bryant | Ecurie Ecosse | BMW | 1 Lap |
32 | Pro-Am | G.Vannelet, E.Guibbert, A.Santamato | Sport Garage | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
33 | Am | O.Grotz, K.Ojjeh | Boutsen Ginion Racing | BMW | 2 Laps |
34 | Pro | S.Thong, M.Lee, M.Winkelhock | Phoenix Racing | Audi | 2 Laps |
35 | Pro-Am | M.Ricci, L.Badey | Akka ASP Team | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
36 | Pro-Am | S.Parrow, P.Kaffer | Black Pearl Racing by Rinaldi | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
37 | Am | F.Mancini, A.Alexandrovich, R.Mastronardi | Glorax Racing | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
38 | Am | C.Hamon, T.Samon, L.Paillard | Sport Garage | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
39 | Pro-Am | D.Andersen, M.Jensen | Insight Racing Denmark | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
40 | Am | J.Haring, D.Konstantinou, F.Schmickler | Attempto Racing | Porsche | 3 Laps |
41 | Am | I.Loggie, J.Westwood | Team Parker Racing | Audi | 3 Laps |
42 | Pro | V.Gitlin, A.Buri, O.Webb | Attempto Racing | McLaren | 3 Laps |
43 | Pro-Am | P.Gaillard, D.Hallyday, J.Nash | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 3 Laps |
44 | Am | Y.Mallegol, H.Blank, J-M.Bachelier | AF Corse | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
45 | Am | P.Ehret, A.Mattschull | Car Collection Motorsport | Mercedes | 3 Laps |
46 | Pro-Am | M.Broniszewski, A.Bonacini, M.Lyons | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
47 | Am | P-E.Bordet, A.Viron, E.Orgeval | Delahaye Racing Team | Porsche | 4 Laps |
48 | Am | J-L.Blanchemain, P.Hirschi, T.Nicolle | Classic & Modern Racing | BMW | 4 Laps |
49 | Pro-Am | H.Hedman, T.Kemenater, E.Julian | DragonSpeed | Ferrari | 5 Laps |
50 | Am | M.Rostan, C-Y.Gosselin, J-C.Lagniez | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | 5 Laps |
51 | Pro-Am | P.Perazzini, M.Cioci, E.Potolicchio | AF Corse | Ferrari | 6 Laps |
52 | Am | J-P.Buffin, G.Cabannes, G.Lallement | Sainteloc Racing | Audi | 6 Laps |
53 | Pro | N.Lapierre, A.Q.-Hobbs, A.Parente | Von Ryan Racing | McLaren | 7 Laps |
54 | Am | A.Moiseev, G.Kondakov, R.Ragazzi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 7 Laps |
55 | Pro | A.Fjordbach, A.Roda, F.Onidi | ISR | Audi | 26 Laps |
- | Pro | M.Ramos, F.Thuner, N.Armindo | Attempto Racing | McLaren | Retirement |
- | Pro | H.Primat, V.Abril, M.Parisy | Bentley Team HTP | Bentley | Retirement |
- | Am | F.Barthez, A.Pons | Akka ASP Team | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | Pro | V.Brito, A.Abreu, M.Stumpf | BMW Sports Trophy Team Brasil | BMW | Retirement |
- | Pro | D.Baumann, M.Sandritter, C.Hurtgen | BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert | BMW | Retirement |
- | Am | S.Earle, L.Talbot, M.Zanuttini | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | Withdrawn |
- | Pro-Am | O.Morley, S.Johnston, M.Engel | Black Falcon | Mercedes | Withdrawn |
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