McLaren is on a roll at the Blancpain GT Series. Today, Garage 59 has scored its first win at the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup. The round which was held at the infamous Nurburgring circuit was met with heavy rains 2 hours before the start. That however had little effect on the action displayed by the GT challengers, and it was the unstoppable duo of Rob Bell and Alvaro Parente who stole the show.
Driving the #58 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3, Bell and Parente were in control right from the start. Bell managed to snatch the lead from polesitter, Enzo Ide in the #33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT R8 LMS after out braking him perfectly. Will Stevens in the #28 sister car also passed the #33 car, and Jules Szymkowiak in the #86 HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 did not waste any time either. The top three began a fight for pole after that stint.
After the mandatory stops for driver changes, Bell handed the car over to Parente, the duo still had a 4s lead over the #28 Audi. Rene Rast was now driving the Audi and catching up quickly with the McLaren but Parente made no errors, his pace was unquestionable too. The order remained unchanged till chequered flag, with the #58 McLaren taking the honours.
The #28 Audi claimed second place, sharing the podium with HTP Motorsport’s #86 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Ide brought home the other Belgian Audi Club Team car in fourth place while the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 458 GT3 completed the top five.
Bell and Parente now leads the Sprint Cup standings, Bell is the overall Blancpain GT Series points leaders with a 44-point advantage over Dominik Baumann and Maximilian Buhk.
Elsewhere, Michele Beretta and Luca Stolz won the Silver Cup in the #19 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3. They shared the podium with Nicolaj Moller Madsen and Markus Pommer from Phoenix Racing (#5 Audi R8 LMS) in second, and the duo of Stuart Leonard and Michael Meadows in the #2 Belgian Audi Club Team Audi – in third.
Michal Broniszewski and Giacomo Piccini won the Pro-Am Cup in the #11 Ferrari 458 GT3 while Claudio Sdanewitsch and Stephane Lemeret claimed victory in the Am-Cup driving the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3.
The Blancpain GT Series drivers will be in action again at Spa on July 5 for the official test of the 24 Hours of Spa which will take place on July 28.
Full results at the official Blancpain GT Series website.
