McLaren's Bell/Ledogar/van Gisbergen win Blancpain Endurance title
The Garage 59 McLaren crew claimed the Blancpain Endurance title by one point, as Mirko Bortolotti, Rolf Iniechen and Christian Engelhart took Lamborghini's first 2016 victory at the Nurburgring
Rob Bell, Come Ledogar and Shane van Gisbergen will share the title despite van Gisbergen missing the finale because of the Supercars Championship's clashing Sandown 500, as his team-mates failed to score in the race where they clinched the crown.
After Bortolotti stormed from fifth to the lead in the opening stint, Blancpain GT Series debutant Engelhart's comfortable five-second margin over Laurens Vanthoor's WRT Audi evaporated when the safety car was required to repair barrier damage caused by Louis Machiels' Attempto Lamborghini.
Despite unrelenting pressure from Vanthoor in the closing laps, Engelhart held firm to win by 0.3 seconds in the Grasser team's first victory since Monza 2015.
"It was a really hard race, but all thanks to Mirko who did a fantastic job at the start and gained us all the positions into the lead," said Engelhart.
"My job was to bring it home and it was a tough fight, he challenged me a lot, but it was a lot of fun also and I'm very happy to bring it home for the whole team."
Lucas Ordonez, Mitsunori Takaboshi and Alex Buncombe brought Nissan's podium drought to an end in third, ensuring the fourth-placed HTP Mercedes of Maxi Buhk, Dominik Baumann and Jazeman Jaafar fell just short of the points total needed to overhaul Garage 59 McLaren pair Bell and Ledogar for the title.
Fighting back from a tough qualifying session disrupted by red flags, Bell endured an uncharacteristically eventful opening stint and was hit with a drive-through penalty after making contact with Marco Bonanomi's Sainteloc Audi and the Attempto Lamborghini of Daniel Zampieri in separate incidents.
Bell and Ledogar's woes were compounded when van Gisbergen's stand-in driver Duncan Tappy was turned around by Luciano Bacheta and had to make an out-of-sequence pitstop to repair a right-rear puncture.
This meant they were not in control of their own destiny and would only finish 30th in the race.
But despite a nervy final few minutes for Garage 59, Buncombe's third place was enough to deliver its drivers the title.
The Black Pearl Racing Ferrari of Daniel Keilwitz and Alexander Mattschull was one of several cars to benefit from pitting under a full course yellow and took Pro-Am honours in an excellent fifth overall, ahead of the polesitting Grasser Lamborghini of Luca Stolz, Michele Beretta and Andrea Piccini.
The #8 Bentley of Maxime Soulet, Wolfgang Reip and Andy Soucek slipped out of title contention during a difficult middle stint for Reip before finishing 19th.
Spa 24 Hour winners Alexander Sims and Philipp Eng's title chances were scuppered by qualifying 39th, but they recovered to finish 10th with team-mate Nicky Catsburg.
RESULTS - 85 LAPS:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pro | R.Ineichen, C.Engelhart, M.Bortolotti | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 3h00m08.036s |
2 | Pro | D.Vanthoor, F.Vervisch, L.Vanthoor | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 0.351s |
3 | Pro | L.Ordonez, M.Takaboshi, A.Buncombe | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1.997s |
4 | Pro | D.Baumann, J.Jaafar, M.Buhk | AMG - Team HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 15.307s |
5 | Pro-Am | S.Parrow, A.Mattschull, D.Keilwitz | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 39.288s |
6 | Pro | A.Piccini, L.Stolz, M.Beretta | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini | 39.934s |
7 | Pro | J.Hirschi, C.Klien, N.Siedler | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | 43.269s |
8 | Pro | S.Leonard, M.Meadows, R.Frijns | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 44.150s |
9 | Pro | G.Smith, V.Abril, S.Kane | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 44.612s |
10 | Pro | A.Sims, P.Eng, N.Catsburg | Rowe Racing | BMW | 48.443s |
11 | Pro | F.Salaquarda, F.Stippler, M.Stockinger | ISR | Audi | 48.894s |
12 | Pro | G.Guilvert, M.Parisy, C.Haase | Sainteloc | Audi | 49.047s |
13 | Pro | S.Asch, L.Ludwig, N.Rogivue | Zakspeed | Mercedes | 49.582s |
14 | Pro-Am | M.Broniszewski, A.Bonacini, A.Rizzoli | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 1m04.116s |
15 | Pro | S.Dusseldorp, M.Tomczyk, T.Blomqvist | Rowe Racing | BMW | 1m04.507s |
16 | Pro-Am | F.Perera, P.Giauque, H.Hassid | ISR | Audi | 1m07.264s |
17 | Pro-Am | D.Cameron, M.Griffin | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m08.160s |
18 | Pro | H.Haupt, A.Simonsen, A.Christodoulou | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 1m21.921s |
19 | Am | M.Ricci, J-L.Beaubelique, G.Vannelet | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 1m50.644s |
20 | Pro | M.Soulet, A.Soucek, W.Reip | Bentley Team M-Sport | Bentley | 2m11.292s |
21 | Pro-Am | O.Morley, M.Toril, M.Engel | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
22 | Pro | C.Mamerow, P.Niederhauser, D.Zampieri | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
23 | Pro-Am | M.Beretta, G.Berton, A.Frassineti | Ombra Racing | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
24 | Pro-Am | L.Machitski, P.Keen, M.Mapelli | Barwell Motorsport | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
25 | Pro | I.Dontje, C.Schmid, L.Bacheta | HTP Motorsport | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
26 | Pro-Am | A.Al Harthy, D.Modell, J.Adam | Oman Racing Team | Aston Martin | 1 Lap |
27 | Pro-Am | C.Zochling, J.Gounon, H.Still | Konrad Motorsport | Lamborghini | 1 Lap |
28 | Pro-Am | S.Comandini, M.Koebolt, S.Colombo | BMW Team Italia | BMW | 1 Lap |
29 | Pro | A.De Leener, B.Barnicoat, P.Kaffer | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 1 Lap |
30 | Pro | D.Tappy, C.Ledogar, R.Bell | Garage 59 | McLaren | 1 Lap |
31 | Pro-Am | M.Simmons, R.Sarazin, S.Walkinshaw | Nissan GT Academy Team RJN | Nissan | 1 Lap |
32 | Pro | P.Lathouras, M.Rugolo, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
33 | Pro-Am | E.Hankey, S.Yoluc, B.Ellis | Black Falcon | Mercedes | 1 Lap |
34 | Am | D.Pierce, C.Harris | Team Parker Racing | Bentley | 1 Lap |
35 | Pro-Am | O.Grotz, K.Ojjeh, J.Darras | Boutsen Ginion Racing | BMW | 1 Lap |
36 | Am | P.Ehret, R.Salikhov | Rinaldi Racing | Ferrari | 1 Lap |
37 | Pro-Am | M.Ishikawa, L.Bontempelli, O.Beretta | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
38 | Am | P.Mann, F.Guedes, R.Mastronardi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
39 | Am | C.Sdanewitsch, S.Lemeret, T.Kemenater | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2 Laps |
40 | Pro-Am | A.Weishaupt, H.Felbermayr Jr., M.Basseng | Car Collection Motorsport | Audi | 2 Laps |
41 | Pro-Am | T.Cornac, M.Jaminet, R.Narac | IMSA Performance | Porsche | 2 Laps |
42 | Pro-Am | D.Perfetti, L.Cazenave, M.Lyons | Akka ASP Team | Mercedes | 3 Laps |
43 | Am | M.Zanuttini, V.Gitlin, L.Talbot | Kessel Racing | Ferrari | 3 Laps |
44 | Pro-Am | C.Kelders, M.Rostan, M.Bonanomi | Sainteloc | Audi | 3 Laps |
45 | Am | L-F.Soenen, A.Detavernier, J.M.Balbiani | Sports & You | Mercedes | 5 Laps |
46 | Pro | R.Baptista, S.Jimenez, A.Tambay | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | Audi | 14 Laps |
47 | Pro-Am | C.Mateu, J.Haring, N.Armindo | Attempto Racing | Porsche | 14 Laps |
48 | Am | A.Moiseev, D.Rizzo | Kaspersky Motorsport | Ferrari | 16 Laps |
49 | Pro-Am | L.Machiels, M.van Splunteren, J.Mul | Attempto Racing | Lamborghini | 26 Laps |
- | Pro | L.Frey, S.Ortelli, A.Costa | Emil Frey Racing | Jaguar | Retirement |
- | Pro | C.De Phillippi, W.Stevens, C.Mies | Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi | Retirement |
- | Am | B.Delhez, C.Hamon, R.Brandela | Classic & Modern Racing | Ferrari | Retirement |
- | Pro | S.Moore, A.Fontana, A.Watson | Garage 59 | McLaren | Retirement |
- | Am | M.Konopka, A.Lewandowski, T.Myszkowski | ARC Bratislava | Lamborghini | Not started |
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