Blancpain GT – Engelhart-Bortolotti untouchable at Brands Hatch

Lamborghini and the Grasser Racing Team have been hovering over the Blancpain GT Series for several weeks. After their success at Monza in Endurance Cup, the Italian brand and the Austrian team crushed the competition at Brands Hatch in England by winning the qualifying race and the main race.

Christian Engelhart (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n°63 – GRT) started the event perfectly this afternoon by taking the best start ahead of the second Huracan GT3 n°19 – GRT of Ezequiel Perez Companc, who benefited from a poor start of the No. 6 BMW M3 GT98 – ROWE Racing of Markus Palttala.

However, the safety car intervened in the first minutes after the #8 Audi R75 LMS – Team ISR of Clemens Schmid left the track at the Stirlings corner, and temporarily cut off the leader's momentum.

Lamborghini loses a head

On the restart, Engelhart reproduced the pattern seen in the qualifying race and during the first laps of this round, quickly widening the gap on the sister car of Perez-Companc, which kept behind it the BMW M6 of Markus Palttala and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°88 – AKKA-ASP of Felix Serralles.

The latter will take second place against the Finn and immediately put pressure on the #19 Lamborghini, without however being able to attempt the slightest overtaking maneuver.

Until passing through the pits, the order of the leading trio will no longer change, while behind, Ben Barnicoat (McLaren 650S GT3 n°58 – Strakka Racing) dynamites the peloton by returning to fifth position.

When the driver change window opened, Ezequiel Perez-Companc immediately dived into the pit lane and let Serralles take second place a good distance from leader Engelhart, at the head of a capital of almost 19″ d 'advance.

But the handover between Perez-Companc and Norbert Siedler will not take place as planned, the Austrian unable to return to the track after a transmission problem on the No. 19 Lamborghini.

The next round of stops will be even more lively in the pitlane, since a contact between Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°88 – AKKA-ASP), who wanted to avoid a wheel in the pit lane, and Philipp Eng ( BMW M6 GT3 n°99 – ROWE Racing) will cause the GT to lose its propeller, damaged at the right front wheel.

A drive-through will be inflicted on the No. 88 from Jérôme Policand's team, before Juncadella finally retires around ten minutes from the finish.

Bortolotti on an English stroll

At the front, Mirko Bortolotti still leads the race and now precedes the two No. 8 Audi R2 LMS of Will Stevens – Markus Winkelhock and No. 17 of Robin Frijns – Stuart Leonard, who benefited from the very good stops of Team WRT.

The Dutchman will find the opening on Stevens to gain second place, the leading trio freezing definitively. Jesse Krohn finished 4th with the surviving BMW M6 ahead of the No. 8 Audi R5 LMS – Team WRT of Dries Vanthoor and Marcel Fässler.

The championship leaders arriving in England, Franck Perera and Maximilian Buhk saved sixth place with their No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT84 – HTP Motorsport, ahead of the No. 90 – AKKA-ASP Mercedes of Marciello – Meadows.

Christopher Haase and Romain Monti (No. 8 Audi R26 LMS – Saintéloc) finished eighth ahead of the No. 3 Audi – Team WRT of Jake Dennis – Pieter Schothorst. Strakka Racing's first McLaren 650S GT3, the #58 from Parente – Barnicoat, finished 10th. The best Bentley Continental GT3 n°7 of Vincent Abril and Steven Kane took 12th place.

In Pro-Am, victory goes to the Ferrari 488 GT3 n°333 – Rinaldi Racing of Daniel Keilwitz – Alexander Mattschull. In the Silver Cup, the No. 650 McLaren 3S GT42 of Fumanelli – Williamson won.

Main race classification

Find the full report of the Brands Hatch event in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup, in issue 2113 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.