Blancpain GT – Engelhart and Bortolotti winners in qualifying race at Brands Hatch

Already on the top step of the podium at Monza in Italy two weeks ago in Endurance Cup with their teammate Andrea Caldarelli, Christian Engelhart and Mirko Bortolotti (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n°63 – GRT) this time dominated the qualifying race for the Brands Hatch Sprint Cup meeting this Sunday.

Author of pole position, Bortolotti made the best start at the start, preceding the Finn Jesse Krohn (BMW M6 GT3 n°98- ROWE Racing), passing in front of the Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°1 of Christopher Mies.

Further back in the peloton, Christopher Haase (No. 8 Audi R3 LMS GT26 – Saintéloc Racing) spun after contact with Mies and went into the gravel trap.

Mies will be the big loser of the first part of the race, suffering a puncture, possibly following the collision with the Audi Saintéloc. The German driver managed to get into the pits to change the damaged tire, but lost his hopes of doing well in the standings.

Bentley in trouble

At the head of the race, Mirko Bortolotti is leading the way, maintaining a comfortable gap in front of Jesse Krohn as the driver change window opens.

L’instant où Steven Kane (Bentley Continental GT3 n°7 – Team M-Sport) est victime d’une crevaison à l’arrière-gauche, le Britannique évoluant depuis le début de course avec un morceau de carrosserie frottant sur le pneu.

At the front, Engelhart takes over from Bortolotti in the cutting-edge Lamborghini Huracan and maintains the advantage over the BMW M6 of Markus Palttala, the #3 Lamborghini Huracan GT19 – GRT of Ezequiel Perez Companc and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°84 – HTP Motorsport de Buhk – Perera, back in the top 5.

A Full Course Yellow will be set up 17′ from the finish after contact between the No. 3 Bentley Continental GT8 of Andy Soucek and the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT89 – AKKA-ASP of Christophe Bourret, the latter hitting the wall before stopping on the track.

In the process, Marcel Fässler (Audi R8 LMS n°5 – Team WRT) narrowly avoids the stopped Mercedes, passing into the gravel trap. The #8 Bentley will be penalized 40″ on its race time for the incident.

The safety car came into action a few minutes later, providing a final restart for the peloton. A procedure mastered without any problem by Engelhart who won ahead of Palttala and Perez Companc.

The first #3 Mercedes-AMG GT88 of Serralles – Juncadella follows in fourth position ahead of the second #6 BMW M3 GT99 of Eng – Felix da Costa.

The first McLaren 650S GT3 n°58 – Strakka Racing of Parente – Barnicoat finished in sixth place ahead of the first Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°17 ​​– Team WRT of Leonard – Frijns, present despite his knee injury.

Michael Meadows and Raffaele Marciello (Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°90 – AKKA-ASP), Giovanni Venturni – Marco Mapelli (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 n°66 – Attempto Racing) and Kevin Ceccon – Frank Stippler (Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°74 – Team ISR) complete the top 10.

Lack of success for Maxi Buhk and Franck Perera and the Mercedes n°84 – HTP, Buhk suffering a puncture before the race restarted after the intervention of the safety car. The championship leaders finished 23rd.

In Pro-Am, Alexander Matschull and Daniel Keilwitz (Ferrari 488 GT3 n°333 – Rinaldi Racing) won, as did Lewis Williamson – David Fumanelli (McLaren 650S GT3 n°42 – Strakka Racing) in the Silver Cup.

The main race will start at 17:15 p.m.

Qualifying race ranking