Ricard Blancpain GT: Bentley makes up for 2018 heartbreak with win – GT

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Bentley made up for its 2018 disappointment at Paul Ricard by dominating this year’s edition of the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup’s 1000km race.

Jordan Pepper, Steven Kane, and Jules Gounon missed out on victory 12 months ago after being overtaken by the Emil Frey Lexus with three corners to go.

This year they dominated from pole in the #107 car, sticking to the original strategy of pitting at the top of the hour, while others stopped early during the first hour under safety car conditions.

The M-Sport-run team also had luck on its side during the race as the safety cars and full course yellows came out at the right time for its strategy, which allowed the team to pit and retain the lead under cautions.

Pepper, Kane and Gounon also survived a late scare when a wheelnut got stuck in the wheel gun while changing the front-left tyre, which cost the team 14 seconds, but they still managed to stay out ahead of the #72 SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 that finished in second with Miguel Molina, Mikhail Aleshin and Davide Rigon.

The #72 car had worked its way to the lead of the race with two hours remaining after starting from 16th on the grid.

But a drivethrough penalty for a pitlane infringement in which the car was jacked up twice dropped them back to second.

The #563 Orange FFF Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Andrea Caldarelli, Dennis Lind and Marco Mapelli finished third after Mapelli overtook Marvin Kirchhofer in the R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with five minutes remaining.

Kirchhofer came home fourth in the car he shares with Jake Dennis and Alex Lynn in fourth.

M-Sport had two Bentleys in the top six, with the #108 car of Callum MacLeod, Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet sixth behind Matt Campbell, Dennis Olsen and Dirk Werner’s Rowe Porsche.

The early part of the race had been disrupted by two safety car periods in the first hour that lasted over 30 minutes in total, during which a number of teams pitted early to get their joker stops out of the way.

The first safety car incident came out after only one and a half laps of racing as the #444 HB Racing Ferrari and the #2 WRT Audi came together at the fast right-hander at Signes, causing significant front-end damage to both cars.

Then two laps after that safety car period ended, the race was paused again as the #27 Lazarus Lamborghini collided with the #55 Attempto Audi – which spun backwards across the final corner and collected the #78 Barwell Lamborghini.

The majority of teams that took advantage of the early cautions to clear pitstops couldn’t make the strategy work later in the race – including reigning champions Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Yelmer Buurman, who finished only 15th.

The ASP team won both the Silver Class, with Nico Bastia, Timur Boguslavskiy and Felipe Fraga, and the Pro-Am class with Jim Pla, Mauro Ricci and Jean-Luc Beaubelique.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps
1 J.Pepper, S.Kane, J.Gounon Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 176
2 M.Molina, M.Aleshin, D.Rigon SMP Racing Ferrari 176
3 D.Lind, A.Caldarelli, M.Mapelli Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 176
4 A.Lynn, M.Kirchhofer, J.Dennis R-Motorsport Aston Martin 176
5 D.Werner, M.Campbell, D.Olsen Rowe Racing Porsche 176
6 C.MacLeod, A.Soucek, M.Soulet Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 176
7 R.Ineichen, C.Engelhart, M.Bortolotti GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 176
8 C.Schmid, N.Foster, K.van der Linde Attempto Racing Audi 176
9 S.Gachet, S.Palette, C.Haase Sainteloc Junior Team Audi 176
10 M.Vaxiviere, M.Parry, M.Martin R-Motorsport Aston Martin 176
11 N.Bastian, T.Boguslavskiy, F.Fraga Akka ASP Team Mercedes 176
12 I.Pareras, K-L.Schramm, F.Hutchison Phoenix Racing Audi 176
13 C.Weerts, N.Nato, R.Breukers Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 176
14 H.Haupt, P.Assenheimer, G.Piana Black Falcon Mercedes 176
15 M.Engel, L.Stolz, Y.Buurman Black Falcon Mercedes 175
16 D.Perel, D.Bulatov, R.Salikhov Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 175
17 T.Proto, D.Menchaca, M.Beretta Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 175
18 D.Dupont, D.Stoneman, S.Gattuso Ombra Racing Lamborghini 175
19 P.Petit, A.MacDowall, S.Davies Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 174
20 G.Venturini, P.Keen, F.Perera Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 174
21 B.Goethe, J.Grogor, S.Hall GPX Racing Porsche 174
22 P.Frommenwiler, R.Ratcliffe, M.McMurry Jenson Team Rocket RJN Honda 174
23 J.Pla, M.Ricci, J-L.Beaubelique Akka ASP Team Mercedes 173
24 A.West, C.Harris, C.Goodwin Garage 59 Aston Martin 173
25 R.L.Vos, D.Burke, T.O.-Cole RAM Racing Mercedes 173
26 S.Yoluc, A.Al Harthy, C.Eastwood Oman Racing Team with TF Sport Aston Martin 173
27 R.Pampanini, S.Monaco, M.Calamia Scuderia Villorba Corse Mercedes 172
28 N.Hommerson, L.Machiels, A.Bertolini Spirit of Race Ferrari 171
29 A.Amstutz, L.Machitski, M.Ramos Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 171
30 P.Chatelet, P-Y.Paque, M.Winkelhock Sainteloc Junior Team Audi 171
31 P.Ehret, M.Berry, J.M.Balbiani Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 171
32 M.Rostan, A.Detavernier, K.Ojjeh Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW 168
33 C.Buncombe, J.Hui, C.Froggatt Spirit of Race Ferrari 168
34 P.Feligioni, C-Y.Gosselin, R.Kuppens Boutsen Ginion Racing Lamborghini 165
35 S.Costantini, A.Forne, C.Lenz Target Racing Srl Lamborghini 144
36 D.Pierce, R.Smith, S.Morris Team Parker Racing Bentley 134
37 K.Bachler, Z.Ashkanani, A.Rizzoli Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 126
B.Delhez, E.Cayrolle, F.Barthez Tech 1 Racing Lexus 94
A.Watson, J.Adam, C.Ledogar Garage 59 Aston Martin 92
R.Marciello, M.Meadows, V.Abril Mercedes-AMG Team Akka ASP Mercedes 77
S.Muller, R.Dumas, M.Jaminet Rowe Racing Porsche 77
L.Mauron, G.Tweraser, A.Santamato GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 70
D.Fumanelli, D.Gore, L.Williamson Strakka Racing Mercedes 51
M.Lauck, C.Hook, S.Parrow Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 49
F.Crestani, N.Pohler, K.Richard Daiko Lazarus Racing Lamborghini 13
J.Pull, J.Witt, S.Mitchell Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 12
S.Schothorst, P.Schothorst, M.Drudi Attempto Racing Audi 11
D.Vanthoor, E.P.Companc, A.Riberas Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 1
J.Liebhauser, F.Scholze, W.Triller Team HB Racing Ferrari 1



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