SERIE BLANCPAIN ENDURANCE >> FECHA 2, NAVARRA

[OscarF21]

Este fin de semana no solo la Formula 1 estará en España, sino tambien la nueva serie de tipo endurace Blancpain para disputar la segunda fecha del campeonato que recien dio inicio el pasado mes de abril en el legendario circuito de Monza con la primera victoria de la serie en manos de la escuadra italiana AutOrlando Sport con los pilotos Paolo Rubeti, Gianluca Roda y Raffaele Gianmaria a cargo de un Porsche 997 GT3 R (Mas informació sobre la primera fecha aquí: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=31595)

La serie tambien verá este fin de semana el debut del nuevo McLaren MP4-12C GT3 que estará a cargo del conocido piloto de la GP2 Oliver Turvey, el director del equipo CRS Andrew Kirkaldy y el campeon de la Formula 3 Britanica Alvaro Parente, entre los planes de McLaren para este año sera, correr esta fecha en Navarra, luego la de Magny Cours asi como la de Silverstone y no se descartan posibles planes por correr las 24 Horas de Spa, que es la 3era fecha de la Serie Blancpain Endurance.

Esta segunda fecha en España sera la ultima oportunidad para los equipos de preparar los autos para la proxima fecha que seran las 24 Horas de Spa el proximo mes de Julio.

La previa oficial de Navarra:

PREVIEW: Spanish ‘Bull Run’ for Second Blancpain Series Race Weekend

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The Northern Spanish circuit of Navarra will be the host for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series and teams will have their final chance to fine tune their cars before the Blue Riband event, the Total 24 Hours of Spa in July. While Monza was opened in 1922, and is one of the best know circuits in Europe, Navarra is brand new, only opening in 2010, but the Spanish circuit has already established a reputation for providing exciting racing whatever the category or championship.

Last month Monza hosted the first ever Blancpain Endurance Series race and fittingly it was the Italian team AutOrlando Sport and Italian driver Paolo Rubeti who took the chequered flag to record the first ever Blancpain Endurance Series win. Ruberti was joined by Gianluca Roda and Raffaele Gianmaria on the top step of the podium. The second placed car was the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS of Stephane Ortelli, Bert Longin and Filipe Albuquerqe, which finished 58 second behind the Porsche but led the race before it had to pit for a splash and dash pitstop 10 laps from home. An early puncture also delayed the Audi but they fought back to claim a podium place in the first race of the season. The Marc VDS Ford GT of Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin and Markus Palttala was third.

The class winners were Marc A Hayek and Peter Kox in the Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini (GT3 Pro-Am Cup), with Hayek bringing the car home in 4th overall. Georges Cabannes and Gregory Guilvert were the GT3 Citiation Cup winners in the Ruffier Racing Lamborghini Gallardo and the GT4 Cup was won by the Lotus Italia team with Edoardo Piscopo, Leo Mansell and Greg Mansell holding off the challenge of the RJN Motorsport Nissan to claim the first GT4 Class win of the new series.

Navarra hosted its first international sportscar event last September when the Spanish circuit hosted the final European round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship. While GT1 will visit in July, the Blancpain Endurance Series will be the first international GT endurance event the track has staged.

Fourteen cars will compete in the GT3 Pro Cup class, with title leaders Paolo Ruberti, Gianluca Roda and Raffaele Gianmaria looking to extend their lead in the AutOrlando Sport Porsche against the Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Audis, Fords and BMW of their rivals. Reigning FIA GT1 World Champion Michael Bartels will be hoping for better luck than he and teammates Frank Kechele and Nico Verdonck had in Monza in the Vita4One Ferrari 458. All three drivers drove in the GT1 race at Navarra last year and will be hoping their experience will pay dividends. Navarra will see a new entry by the Faster Racing by DB MOTORSPORT with the BMW Z4. The Dutch team tasted success on the international stage in the FIA GT3 race in Portugal with a third place for Jeroen den Boer in Round 1. The team will be hoping to build on their FIA success in the Blancpain Endurance Series in Spain.

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Nine cars are entered in the GT3 Pro-Am Cup with Mark A Hayek and Peter Kox arriving in Monza on a high note after taking maximum points in Italy. However the Blancpain sponsored Reiter team will not be resting on their laurels. The Gulf Racing First team will be making their first appearance of the year, with Frederic Fatien, Jean-Pierre Valentini and Andrea Barlesi lining up to drive the United Arab Emirates teams Lamborghini Gallardo. The two Lamborghini teams will be joing by the Rhino’s Leipart Lamborghini and they will face stiff opposition from the three Ferrari 458s run by AF Corse, SOFREV Auto Sport and Vita4One, a GPR AMR Aston Martin DBRS9, a De Lorenzi Racing run Porsche 997 and a Ferrari 430 Scuderia prepared by the French Sport Garage team.

In the GT3 Citation Cup Championship leader Georges Cabannes’ teammate has yet to be announced but the Ruffier Racing Lamborghini will be once again challenging for top honours against Ferrari and Porsche.

The GT4 Cup features six entries but what it is definitely a case of the quality over quantity. The Lotus Italia Evora of Edoardo Piscopo, Leo Mansell and Greg Mansell was the top car in Monza but the RJN Nissan 370Z, The GPR Aston Martin Vantage, the Lotus Driving Academy Evora, the De Lorenzi Racing Ginetta G50 and the Gentle Swiss Racing Maserati MC Granturismo will all be hoping to take the honours in the final test before Spa.

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The weekend will feature two 60-mniute Free Practice sessions; three 15-minute qualifying sessions, one for each driver, with the fastest time determining the grid for the 180-minute race on Sunday. The three race will include two mandatory pit stops, with tyre and driver change. Points will be awarded using the FIA system in each class, with the winners receiving 25 points, second 18 points, down to 1 point for 10th place.

All the latest information can be found at http://www.blancpain-endurance-series.com where visitors can also watch the races, which will be streamed live on Sunday.

[OscarF21]

Asi esta organizado el fin de semana (Hora Local)

Saturday 21 May
10:30-11:00 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Free Practice
11:10-12:40 - Blancpain Endurance Series - Free Practice (3:10AM Costa Rica)
12:50-13:20 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Qualifying
14:30-14:50 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Race 1
15:05-16:35 - Blancpain Endurance Series - Pre-Qualifying (7:05AM Costa Rica)
16:50-17:10 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Race 2

Sunday 22 May
09:30-09:50 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Race 3
10:10-11:05 - Blancpain Endurance Series - Qualifying (2:10AM Costa Rica)
11:25-11:45 - Mitjet 1300 Series - Race 4
13:15-16:15 - Blancpain Endurance Series - Race (5:15AM Costa Rica)

En la pagina oficial http://www.blancpain-endurance-series.com habrá un stream con la carrera en vivo!

[OscarF21]

Se suponia que para este fin de semana seria el debut del nuevo McLaren MP4-12C GT3 pero al final el equipo CRS no pudo tener el auto listo a tiempo por unos cambios que se tuvieron que hacer a ultimo momento, pero se espera que su debut entonces sea en las proximas 24 Horas de Spa.

Durante la mañana en España se llevo a cabo la sesion oficial de practicas libres donde el Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini LP560 de Marc Hayek y Peter Kox de la clase Pro-Am Cup fue el que marco el ritmo con un tiempo de 1:39.584, que fue 0.016 segundos mas rapido que la Ferrari 458 Italia de AF Corse de Matt Griffin y Jack Gerber tambien de la clase Pro-Am Cup, de la clase Pro el mas rapido ha la Ferrari 458 Italia de Vita4One con Michael Bartels, Frank Kechele y Nico Verdonck con un tiempo de 1:39.712.

FREE PRACTICE REPORT / RESULTS

The nr24 Pro-Am Cup Class Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini LP560 of Marc Hayek and Peter Kox set the pace in the first session of the Blancpain Endurance Series weekend at Navarra in Spain. Kox set the fastest lap of the 90-minute session, which was interrupted by two red flags to recover cars from dangerous parts of the circuit, the Dutch driver setting a lap of 1:39.584, 0.016s quicker than the fellow Pro-Am Cup Class car, the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Matt Griffin and Jack Gerber. The fastest Pro Class car was the nr1 Vita4One Ferrari 458 of reigning GT1 World Champion Michael Bartels, who is racing with Frank Kechele and Nico Verdonck. Verdonck set the fastest time of 1:39.712, 0.124 ahead of his nearest rival, the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS of Bert Longin, Filip Alberquerqe and Stephane Ortelli.

The fastest car in the GT3 Gentlemen Trophy class was the nr22 Sport Garage Ferrari 430 Scuderia of Philip Shearer, Amandine Foulard and Lionel Comole with a time of 1:43.295 in 22nd overall. The fastest GT4 Cup competitor was the nr61 Lotus Driving Academy Lotus Evora of Lorenz Frey, Rolf Maritz and Fredy Barth with a time of 1:47.363, two places and 1.2 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals, the nr70 Lotus Italia Evora of Edoardo Piscopo, Greg Mansell and Leo Mansell.

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[OscarF21]

PRE QUALIFYING REPORT / RESULT

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The 60-minute Pre-Qualifying session came to a halt with 3 minutes remaining when the nr6 Rhino’s Leipart Motorsport Lamborghini stopped between Turns 6 and 7 and the red flags were displayed to recover the stranded car.

The top car of the session was the nr40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT of Maxime Martin, Bas Leinders and Markus Palttala with the best time of the day of 1:38.839, seven tenths faster than the best time in the earlier Free Practice session. The Ford was 0.5 seconds ahead of the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Matt Griffin and Jack Gerber, which was the fastest car in the GT3 Pro-Am Cup Class.

The fastest car in the GT3 Gentlemen Trophy Class was the nr31Ruffier Racing Lamborghini Gallardo of Georges Cabannes and Fabien Michal with a time of 1:46.283s. In the GT4 Cup the nr70 Lotus Italia Evora of Edoardo Piscopo, Greg Mansell and Leo Mansell posted a time of 1:48.694, turning the tables by 0.122 seconds on their rivals in the nr61 Lotus Driving Academy Lotus Evora, Lorenz Frey, Rolf Maritz and Fredy Barth.

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[OscarF21]

Dos autos estan haciendo su debut en la Serie Blancpain este fin de semana en Navarra, ellos son el Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 #45 de Gulf Racing dentro de la categoria GT3 Pro Cup, y el BMW Z4 de Faster Racing con el #43 de la categoria GT3 Pro-Am Cup. Ambos equipos tenian planes de correr la temporada completa pero sus autos no estuvieron listos para la primera fecha en Monza, Faster Racing por su parte tiene intenciones de introducir un auto mas para las ultimas tres fechas que corresponden a Spa, Magny-Cours y Silverstone.

Con la incorporacion de Faster Racing, la marca BMW tambien hace su debut en la Serie Blancpain y formar parte de las 10 marcas que previamente estaban representadas, entre ellas, Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Ford, Ginetta, Lamborghini, Lotus, Maserati, Nissan y ademas Porsche.
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[OscarF21]

Otro equipo que busca incorporar un auto mas es el de Michael Bartels, Vita4One, que por ahora dispone de dos Ferrari 458 GT3 Italia's pero segun han anticipado en el equipo, despues de la fecha de las 24 Horas de Spa, el equipo contará con una tercera Ferrari 458, que de hecho las camaras de Endurance-Info.com han logrado captar este fin de semana en los garages del circuito de Navarra.
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[OscarF21]

Material © SRO Ltd

[OscarF21]

Primera Victoria de Ferrari en la serie Blancpain Endurace

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La victoria de esta segunda fecha de la Serie Blancpain Endurance disputada en el circuito de Navarra, ha sido para la Ferrari 458 del equipo Vita4One con Michael Bartels, Frank Kechele y Nico Verdonck, convirtiendose en la primera victoria de la escuadra en esta nueva serie. El segundo lugar fue ocupado por el Audi R8 del equipo Belgian Audi Club con Stephane Ortelli, Bert Longin y Filipe Albuquerque, quienes partieron desde la Pole Position, pero en a eso del giro 17 de carrera Kechele con la Ferrari de Vita4One les arrebató la primera posicion la cual logran mantener hasta el final de las 3 horas de carrera. Y el ultimo escalón del podio ha sido ocupado por los vencedores de la fecha anterior en Monza, Paolo Ruberti, Gianluca Roda y Raffaele Gianmaria con el Porsche 997 GT3 R de AutOrlando, permitiendoles mantener el liderato en el Campeonato luego de dos fechas disputadas.

Dentro de la categoria Pro Am, otra Ferrari 458 se apodera de la Victoria, en este caso la del equipo SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion de Ludovic Badey, Franck Morel y Jean-Luc Beaubelique, ellos terminaron en la quinta posicion general a 1 vuelta abajo de los cuatro lideres de la Pro Cup.

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Una vez mas George Cabannes logra ganar en la categoria GT3 Gentlemen Trophy con su Nuevo compañero y piloto de rally Fabien Michal (que hoy estaba hacienda su debut en circuito) con el Lamborghini de Ruffier Racing.

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En la GT4 la victoria fue para el Lotus Evora del equipo Lotus Driving Academy con Freddy Barth, Rolf Maritz y Lorenz Frey, luego de que el otro Lotus del equipo Lotus Italia, que lideraba previamente con Greg Mansell al volante sufriera de problemas mecanicos en su transmisión, lo cual los obligo a retirarse de la carrera.

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El reporte oficial de Blancpain Endurance sobre la carrera:
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Vita4One Ferrari Triumphs in Spain
RACE REPORT

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Thirty cars lined up on the grid for Round 2 of the Blancpain Endurance Series, with the nr 65 Gentle Swiss Racing Maserati missing from the line up with a rear axle issue. Stephane Ortelli in the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 led the cars into the first turn as the race began, with the nr9 AutOrlando Porsche of Gianluca Roda moving ahead of Jack Gerber in the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari to take second place. The AF Corse Ferrari was also passed by Frank Kechele in the Vita4One Ferrari on the run into Turn 9, with the German closing the gap to challenge the second placed Porsche.

Ortelli continued to lead the race as Kechele challenged Roda, but it took several laps before the Vita4One Ferrari moved ahead and started to close the 3 second gap that Ortelli had managed to open up to his rivals. While Kechele was charging forward, Roda’s Porsche came under pressure from the two SOFREV ASP Ferrari’s of Ludovic Badey in the nr20 458 and Julien Jousse in the nr10 Ferrari.

In the GT4 Class the nr 63 RJN Motorsport Nissan of Alex Buncombe was being reeled in by the two Lotus Evora’s of Edoardo Piscopo and Fredy Barth and on lap 11 the Nissan slipped to third place in the GT4 Cup.

The nr24 Blancpain Reiter Lamborghini of Marc A Hayek, which had started at the back of the grid following a blown engine in qualifying, was making rapid progress up the field but Hayek’s charge was brought to a halt when the Lamborghini made an unscheduled pitstop on lap 12. The problem was traced to the battery but after several more trips to the pits the round 1 class winner was forced to retire.

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Back at the front of the field Kechele was able to close the gap to the leading Audi to less than a second. On lap 17 the nr22 Sport Garage Ferrari 430 of Philip Shearer went off at the last corner and was parked at the side of the track. There was a bit of confusion when some drivers said they saw Safety Car boards being shown and Ortelli decided to slow down. Kechele, who made the decision that the Safety Car wasn’t deployed, closed right up to the Audi and swept into the lead. Kechele then set about building a 5-second lead to his rivals as the Ferrari continued to run faultlessly.

On lap 24 the Safety Car was deployed when the nr50 AF Corse Ferrari 458 of Jack Gerber went off the track at Turn 15 and hit the barriers, destroying the front end of his car and the track was covered in debris. The pitlane suddenly came alive as teams rushed to take advantage of the situation.

At the restart on lap 29 the nr20 SOFREV Ferrari of Ludovic Badey was leading the race having failed to complete its first stop. Badey continued to lead when the second Safety Car period came into force after the nr73 De Lorenzi Racing Ginetta G50 of Diego Alessi caught fire. The back of the GT4 Class car was well alight when the Italian pulled over after Turn 14 and made a rapid exit to safety. The lead Ferrari pitted and the lead went to the nr1 Vita4One Ferrari, now with Nico Verdonck at the wheel.

After the marshals had extinguished the fire and dragged the stricken Ginetta behind the barriers racing resumed. Verdonck started to pull ahead of Bert Longin in the nr32 Audi, who was being caught by the nr9 AutOrlando Porsche of Raffaele Gianmaria and the nr33 Belgian Audi Club R8 of Marcel Fassler. On lap 40 Longin was passed by the Porsche at the last corner and then three laps later fell victim to Fassler’s Audi when the Swiss driver followed two back markers who passed Longin’s Audi to un lap themselves.

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By lap 51 Verdonck was a comfortable 8 seconds ahead of Gianmaria’s Porsche and 15 seconds ahead of the third placed Audi. Longin, now in 4th, was coming under pressure from the SOFREV Ferrari of Patrice Goueslard and decided to pit on lap 59 to hand over to Felipe Albuquerqe.

Verdonck pitted on lap 66 just before Gianmaria brought the AutOrlando Porsche for its second and final stop. Verdonck handed over to reigning GT1 World Champion Michael Bartels who regained the track over 15 seconds ahead of the Porsche and looked set to win his first race in a GT3 car. The nr20 Ferrari was still leading the race on the road but still had to make its final stop, but not before Bartels swept past Gouesland to take the lead on lap 72.

As the race entered the final stages only four cars were on the lead lap, the nr1 Vita4One Ferrari, the nr9 AutOrlando Porsche and the two Belgian Audi Club R8s. Paolo Roberti was struggling with the Porsche’s gearbox, which didn’t have first gear, allowing Albuquerqe in the nr32 Audi to close and pass on the inside of the first corner on lap 92.

Meanwhile disaster struck the nr70 Lotus Italia Evora of Greg Mansell. With a one lap advantage over their nearest rivals the Lotus Italia team looked set to repeat their Monza win but the gearbox had other ideas and failed on lap 89, forcing Mansell into retirement and handing the class win to the Lotus Academy Evora of Lorenz Frey.

As the final laps counted down the Vita4One team got set to celebrate and they did just that as Michael Bartels took the chequered flag to win Round 2 of the Blancpain Endurance Series in Navarra.

The next round will be the Total 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium on the 28-31 July.

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Fotografias y Reporte Oficial © SRO Ltd

Resultados de la Carrera Completos: