Silverstone Blancpain: Factory Aston Martin dominates
The factory Aston Martin V12 Vantage driven by Darren Turner, Frederic Makowiecki and Stefan Mucke claimed a dominant victory in the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone
The Aston, which was a late entry for the event, led all but the first 13 laps of the three-hour race on the way to a 20-second victory ahead of two WRT Audi R8 LMS ultras.
Turner started the winning car from pole position, but lost out to Lucas Ordonez in the RJN Nissan GT-R at the first corner. He trailed the Spaniard until the Nissan was baulked out of The Loop.
"It was hard to keep up for the first 10 laps before we got into the traffic," said Turner. "Once I got past, it was all about traffic management and I got the better breaks."
Laurens Vanthoor got the better of team-mate Frank Stippler in the middle stint. A delay when Stippler handed over to Edward Sandstrom gave the car started by Stephane Ortelli a clear gap, which Rene Rast was able to extend to the finish.
The Audi Sandstrom and Stippler shared with Christopher Mies was nearly 35s behind at the chequered flag.
The lead JRM Nissan GT-R shared by Peter Dumbreck, Lucas Luhr and Steven Kane came from sixth to fourth on the final lap, Kane moving past Markus Palttala in the best of the Marc VDS BMW Z4s two corners from home.
Palttala had closed up on Daniel Zampieri aboard the Kessel Ferrari 458 Italia in the closing stages. An incident between the BMW and the Ferrari allowed Kane to get on terms and then pass both of them.
The RJN Nissan, in which Ordonez was joined by Peter Pyzera and Alex Buncombe, took a clear win in the Pro-Am class with 10th overall. Ordonez finished the opening stint in second place, but Pyzera lost time with a drive-thru penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.
The Gentlemen Trophy for amateur line-ups went to the ARC Bratislava Porsche 911 GT3-R shared by Ahmad Al Harthy and Miro Konopka.
Leading finishers - 89 laps/three hours: Pos Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Turner/Makowiecki/Mucke Aston Martin 3h01m36.007s 2. Ortelli/Vanthoor/Rast WRT Audi + 20.981s 3. Stippler/Sandstrom/Mies WRT Audi + 55.516s 4. Luhr/Kane/Dumbreck JRM Nissan + 1m15.101s 5. Palttala/Catsburg/Moser Marc VDS BMW + 1m15.354s 6. Ramos/Zampieri/Rigon Kessel Ferrari + 1m15.548s 7. Sims/Dusseldorp/Parente Hexis McLaren + 1m18.263s 8. Mayr-Melnhof/Frey/Halliday WRT Audi + 1m33.309s 9. Ide/Kumpen/Winkelhock Phoenix Audi + 1m34.091s 10. Ordonez/Pyzera/Buncombe RJN Nissan + 1m58.134s
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