Blancpain Endurance Series, Navarra - Race Report

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT claimed the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Series Pro Cup Drivers and Teams titles in Spain. The race at the Navarra circuit was eventually red flagged due to bad weather conditions and won by French squad Hexis Racing. With WRT taking second and third and Marc VDS Racing Team finishing fourth, the Belgian Audi team scored enough points to win both titles.

Having started from pole position Alvaro Parente immediately showed that Hexis Racing had come to Navarra with the aim of winning the race and showing they are the strongest GT team in the SRO series. The Portuguese driver pulled away from Stefan Rosina in the Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini and was soon several seconds clear of the rest of the field.

In dry conditions the McLaren MP4-12C GT3 dominated at Navarra and within 14 laps Rosina was outside the top three and Nico Verdonck and Rob Bell with their McLarens were in. Heavy fighting started behind the top three. A strong driver from Gregoire Demoustier made it a McLaren top 4, with the championship contenders fighting for position eight. Just before the first round of pit stops Bas Leinders overtook Marco Bonanomi and the Belgian driver was now right behind the #1 WRT Audi in eighth place, but in the pit stop that followed a problem at Marc VDS Racing team resulted in the number 2 Audi taking back its position.

Just over an hour into the race Alvaro Parente made his pit stop and handed over the McLaren to Dutchman Stef Dusseldorp. With dark clouds rolling everyone knew the predicted rain was about to hit the circuit. A solid performance by Dusseldorp resulted in the Hexis Racing team increasing their lead, with second placed driver Zoel Amberg losing more and more ground and eventually the young Boutsen Ginion Racing driver was passed by several other cars. Towards the end of Dusseldorp’s stint the rain increased and cars started sliding over the circuit. While several teams opted to make their stop Dusseldorp stayed out on slicks and gained several seconds a lap on his rivals. Just when the race director deployed the safety car the Hexis Racing driver pitted to hand over to Fred Makowiecki.

Positions changed behind the safety car as some drivers spun and others gained positions by rejoining the race from the pit just in front of the safety car. Makowiecki’s lead was reduced to just a couple of seconds, but at the restart - despite increasingly bad weather - the French driver pulled away again.

40 minutes before the end of the three hour race several drivers, including Maxime Martin and Laurens Vanthoor, spun their cars. Mike Wainwright spun his Gulf Racing McLaren and came to a stop on the track. After being missed by several cars, including a near miss by the Insight Racing Ferrari, he was then hit by the Gentlemen Trophy points leader, Sainteloc Racing. The safety car was deployed again and stayed out for over half an hour. With just over 4 minutes remaining the red flag was shown and the race was not restarted. As the third WRT Audi separated Ortelli and Martin WRT scored enough points to win the two Blancpain Endurance Series titles. The results remain provisional at the moment, as Bas Leinders went on the record saying he was to protest two of WRT's pit stops this weekend.

Despite several spins, including one right before the race, ART Grand Prix won the Pro-Am category. Strong stints by Demoustier and Duncan Tappy gave the team their first win of the season and McLaren its second class win of the day. DB Motorsport scored a second place finish and the Black Falcon Mercedes finished third. Niek Hommerson and Louis Machiels won the Pro-Am Cup title after finishing the race, when their rivals Vita4One Racing Team Italy failed to finish with suspension damage.

Sainteloc Racing clinched the Gentlemen Trophy. Philippe Giauque, Robert Hissom and Pierre Hirschi only had to finish and when Giauque hit the stranded Gulf Racing McLaren there was some panic at first. Giauque brought the car back into the pit and quick work by the team meant the car was back out soon and made it to the finish.

MtC