Blancpain Endurance Series - Race Report
ProSpeed Wins A Thriller Remaining 3h 00m
Greetings from a cold but sunny Nürburgring. The start of the race has been delayed by 20 minutes, for reasons unknown, and we expect the start to now be 14:50 (13:50 UK) Remaining 3h 00m
The cars have all made it away from the grid, but no sign of the Preci-Spark SLS at the back.
The grid has cleared and the engines have fired up.
Remaining 3h 00m
No obvious gaps visible on the grid from the media centre. Lead car in...and we're green here at the Nürburgring! Lap 1 Remaining 2h 58m
Goossens leads by 8 tenths. Cheng is second, Leinders is third. Lap 2 Remaining 2h 55m
Replay shows we already had spinners before the start of the race. Dennis Andersen (#17 Ferrari) was involved. And the #60 Von Ryan Racing McLaren was spun at Turn 2. Davide Rigon has slowed dramatically in the #71 Ferrari after being hit out of Turn 1 and has returned to the pit. Lap 4 Remaining 2h 53m
Daniel Roos and Julian Draper off at Turn 1 - the #98 Audi backwards into the gravel. Both cars rejoined.
PRO-AM The #90 is indeed in the race - David Jones already up to 34th in the Mercedes.
Lap 5 Remaining 2h 51m
Mike Hezemans went straight at the NGK-Chicane.
PRO-AM Steve Jans leads PRO-AM in the #19 Black Falcon SLS in seventh. PRO-AM Draper pits the embattled Von Ryan McLaren. Lap 6 Remaining 2h 46m
PRO Ludwig attacks Leinders in the Mercedes-Arena. Unsuccessful attempt - Leinders still third. Lap 7 Remaining 2h 45m
PRO-AM Rob Bell sets the fastest lap of the race so far - 1:59.768 - in the #9 Gulf Racing McLaren.
PRO Davide Rigon rejoins the race in the #71 Ferrari after attention to the steering. The car is five laps down. Lap 8 Remaining 2h 44m
PRO-AM Draper has rejoined the race in the #60, but is shown the black/white flag for his collision with #98. Lap 9 Remaining 2h 43m
Tankslapper for Rossi - but he saves it. Guess we can call that MotoGP and WRC experience? Lap 10 Remaining 2h 41m
PRO-AM Drama for Vita4One Team Italy - damage to the front of the #57 and Petrobelli spins his car in the Arena. This was just after the #51 AF Corse Ferrari spun at Turn 1. The #52 AF Corse Ferrari is also somehow involved and returns to the pits without a rear-wing! Lap 11 Remaining 2h 37m
PRO-AM Duncan Cameron has the penalised #21 MTECH Ferrari up to 34th. Lap 12 Remaining 2h 34m
8.526s covers the top nine cars.
PRO Pressure from Bas Leinders on Cong Fu Cheng - the Chinese runs wide and Leinders takes second.
PRO-AM The #50 AF Corse Ferrari of Jack Gerber slides sideways to a halt. Lap 13 Remaining 2h 32m
PRO-AM David Jones drops the #90 SLS into the gravel after cutting the grass and undoes his good work so far. Lap 15 Remaining 2h 31m
PRO It appears that it isn't actually Goossens in the lead car - it is Marc Hennerici. The timing screen is wrong! Lap 17 Remaining 2h 27m
PRO-AM Big shunt for Marc Hayek in the #24 Lamborghini out of T8; the car looks to be out. SAFETY CAR Lap 18 Remaining 2h 21m
PRO-AM The #69 Gulf McLaren of Roald Goethe suffers a puncture, possibly after hitting debris.
GENT Despite his earlier spin, Daniel Roos is leading the GTR class.
PRO-AM Hans Reiter reports that radio contact with Hayek indicates that he is uninjured. The SC is for debris on track. Lap 19 Remaining 2h 19m
PRO Still under caution, Cheng becomes the first of the lead cars to stop. Lap 20 Remaining 2h 16m
PRO Hennerici pits.
PRO-AM Car 34 under investigation for overtaking car 24 under yellows at turn 7. Is that possible as #24 caused the yellow flags and Safety Car? Lap 21 Remaining 2h 15m
PRO-AM The process of extracting Marc Hayek from the crashed Lambo is not being rushed. Hopefully this is purely precautionary. Lap 22 Remaining 2h 10m
As the clear-up continues, so do the pitstops. Matt Bell currently leads in the #9 McLaren but has yet to stop.
PRO-AM Hayek is out of the car and on his way to the medical centre. Lap 24 Remaining 2h 06m
Safety Car in at the end of this lap. GREEN Lap 25 Remaining 2h 04m
PRO-AM Bell holds onto his lead at the restart and pulls a long way clear of the second-placed Mike Stursberg in the #8 Haribo Porsche. Lap 26 Remaining 2h 02m
PRO-AM Bell's lead is five seconds, while Henry Hassid is given a drive-through in the #34 Porsche for passing under yellows. Lap 27 Remaining 2h 0m
PRO Olivier Pla takes tenth in the #83 Porsche from the #40 Audi of Guilvert. Lap 28 Remaining 1h 58m
PRO Spin for the #5 Boutsen Ginion Racing McLaren MP4-12C GT3 of Marino Franchitti. Fortunately for the Scot he's not collected by any of the other drivers.
PRO Incident between #4 and #8: No Further Action. Lap 29 Remaining 1h 55m
PRO-AM Rob Bell pits from the lead. Lap 30 Remaining 1h 53m
PRO-AM Stursberg now leads from the #88 McLaren of Rob Barff. Both cars have yet to stop. Nope - both pit as this is typed.
The first three cars that have stopped are the Vita4One and DB Motorsport BMWs. Interesting...
Lap 31 Remaining 1h 53m
PRO Mike Parisy grabs the lead from Greg Franchi at T1 in the #18 Black Falcon Mercedes. Lap 32 Remaining 1h 51m
PRO-AM Hans-Guido Riegel gets it all wrong on his outlap - and spins the Haribo Racing Team Porsche into the gravel. Mike Stursberg must not be a happy chappy now.
GENT Saintéloc Racing team manager is summoned to the race director. Lap 33 Remaining 1h 48m
PRO-AM The #36 DB Motorsport BMW of Den Boer hits the #9 McLaren of Mike Wainwright at the final turn. The Z4 retires from third along the straight. Lap 35 Remaining 1h 45m
PRO-AM Wainwright gets going after a lengthy delay. No action is to be taken by the officials in regard to the incident. PRO-AM Spin for the #88 Von Ryan Racing McLaren - Leon Price has continued. Lap 37 Remaining 1h 40m
PRO-AM Matt Griffin (although the screen still says Cameron) has the #21 Ferrari up to 16th after starting from the back. Lap 37 Remaining 1h 39m
PRO Markus Palttala gets a tap from behind by Dino Lunardi - and crashes into the barrier. That is game over for the #3 Marc VDS Racing Team BMW - steam coming from the radiator. Lap 39 Remaining 1h 36m
Replay shows Palttala moves to the right - with the Audi already there. Not sure if Lunardi is to blame there. Lap 42 Remaining 1h 30m
PRO-AM Craig Wilkins is in the #30 GT3 Racing Audi and is running 22nd at the moment. Lap 43 Remaining 1h 28m
PRO Parisy has extended his lead past ten seconds now, while a lengthy queue is forming up behind Franchi in second. Lap 44 Remaining 1h 27m
PRO-AM Griffin has got past Hassid to move up to 15th in the #21 458 and is just over a minute off the lead.
PRO No further action on the incident involving Palttala and Lunardi. So it has been declared either a race incident or driver error then. Lap 45 Remaining 1h 25m
PRO Edward Sandström catches Olivier Pla napping to take seventh in the #2 Audi. Lap 46 Remaining 1h 21m
PRO-AM Pro-Am Championship leading #52 pushed back into the box.
PRO Xavier Maassen finds his way past Franchi to take the #75 Porsche into second and begin the process of reducing the 12s gap to the lead. Lap 47 Remaining 1h 20m
PRO-AM Onto lap 47 Soulet takes the lead from Knap - but the BMW driver responds coming out of turn 1, retaking the class lead. Lap 48 Remaining 1h 17m
PRO Franchi and Lunardi are fighting for position and trying to clear slower traffic. Stefano Gattuso passes them, unlapping himself....and Lunardi follows to pass Franchi! Lap 50 Remaining 1h 14m
PRO-AM Leon Price has a second spin in the #88 McLaren and ends up in the gravel. Lap 51 Remaining 1h 12m
PRO Despite having clear road, Maassen can do nothing about Parisy at the moment and is losing ground to the Mercedes. Lap 51 Remaining 1h 09m
Harold Primat (#13 Audi) suddenly slowed down on track. Car did continue, albeit very slow. Then suddenly a puff of smoke and back on the pace again.
PRO-AM Price is out of the car and walking away. Lap 52 Remaining 1h 10m
The second round of stops appears to be underway. Parisy pits from the lead after an excellent stint. Jeroen Bleekemolen takes over. Primat returned to the pit - Rast is ready to take over from Primat - full service, quick check and he's out on the road again. Lap 53 Remaining 1h 07m
PRO-AM Preci-Spark's day isn't getting any better - the latest drama is a small pitlane fire that is quickly extinguished. Lap 53 Remaining 1h 05m
PRO Pit stop time again! The leaders have been in. Bleekemolen has taken over from Parisy in #18 Mercedes, Goossens now onboard the #75 Porsche.
PRO The #90 dramas impact on the #2 WRT Audi which has to be manhandled into position and loses a lot of time as a result. Lap 55 Remaining 1h 02m
PRO-AM Matt Griffin now leads the race - last to first for the #21 - but has yet to stop for a second time. Lap 56 Remaining 1h 0m
PRO-AM Griffin pits, which leaves Marc Goossens in the lead in the #75 Porsche.
PRO-AM Leon Price appears to have changed his mind and returned to the #88 McLaren as it is reported to have rejoined. Lap 57 Remaining 0h 58m
PRO Kechele passed Van Splunteren...and one lap later he's all over Ortelli. Onto lap 57 Kechele places his BMW alongside the Audi and takes the position. Lap 60 Remaining 0h 58m
PRO-AM Adam Christodoulou is making progress in the #30 Audi; up to 25th. Lap 62 Remaining 0h 49m
PRO The previously troubled #13 Audi now seems to be running well. Rene Rast has recently set the fastest race lap - 1:58.659 - in the car, which is in 22nd place. Lap 64 Remaining 0h 43m
PRO Bleekemolen is reeling Goossens in - the Belgian's lead is now down to 5.991s. PRO-AM The PRO-AM class is led by Paul van Splunteren in the #74 ProSpeed Porsche, but has just lost sixth on the road to the #83 Porsche of Nicolas Armindo. PRO-AM Marc Hayek has been released from the medical centre and has been seen in the paddock; limping, but otherwise okay. Lap 66 Remaining 0h 40m
Bleekemolen trims another second from Goossens's lead. Now 4.100. PRO Is the lead Porsche beginning to struggle, or is this traffic? Lap 67 Remaining 0h 38m
PRO It appears to be the former as the gap comes down to 2.844 on the next lap. A challenge for the lead appears imminent. PRO-AM And there's another Mercedes on the move - Sean Edwards closing quickly on van Splunteren in the #19 Black Falcon car. The two PRO-AM leaders are less than three seconds apart. Lap 68 Remaining 0h 35m
PRO-AM Edwards powers by the Porsche and gets the PRO-AM lead. PRO-AM Edouard Mondron with a left rear puncture - nursing the #15 Boutsen Ginion Racing McLaren home. Lap 70 Remaining 0h 32m
PRO Goossens has managed to stabilise the lead at just over two seconds; but for how much longer? Lap 73 Remaining 0h 25m
PROThe leaders are nose to tail. Can Belgium prevail over Holland? Lap 74 Remaining 0h 24m
PRO Bleekemolen is now looking for the gap. He almost made a move stick at T1, but was a couple of lengths short. Lap 75 Remaining 0h 22m
PRO-AM Christodoulou has the #30 Audi into the top 20 for the first time. Lap 76 Remaining 0h 21m
PRO The #9 McLaren of Mike Wainwright gets in between the leaders while being lapped, which gives Goossens a quick breather. Lap 77 Remaining 0h 17m
The gap between Goossens and Bleekemolen stays under a second. When will the Dutchman make his move on the Belgian driver? Lap 79 Remaining 0h 13m
PRO Bleekemolen is now once again within striking distance of Goossens and the Mercedes now looks threatening. Lap 80 Remaining 0h 12m
Drive-through penalty for car #15 for causing a collision with car #10. That explains the smoking Ferrari and the puncture on the McLaren. Lap 81 Remaining 0h 10m
PRO Into the last ten minutes and the cat and mouse chase continues. Great to see two such pros going head to head. Lap 82 Remaining 0h 8m
PRO-AM Anthony Beltoise in the #34 PRO GT Porsche has taken second in PRO-AM from van Splunteren
Nicolas Armindo runs wide through the gravel - at turn 7. Moser closed the gap to Armindo by some 12 seconds. Lap 83 Remaining 0h 6m
Armindo off at Turn 1. Yellow flags - Bleekemolen loses two tenths there, but gains more time in other sectors. Lap 84 Remaining 0h 4m
PRO The leaders are coming up on more traffic - will this be Bleekemolen's final chance? Lap 85 Remaining 0h 1m
PRO Bleekemolen tries into the chicane but isn't close enough. One more lap to go! Lap 86
PRO Time is up, but the race continues. Bleekemolen is still looking.... Lap 86
Goossens holds on to take the win! What a fantastic race! Lap 86
PRO-AM No double for Black Falcon, but a great PRO-AM win for the #19.
GENT The #58 Exagon Porsche of Daniel Desbrueres and Christian Kelders takes the GTR win. That concludes our coverage as the DSC away team has to dash for the tunnel. Thanks for watching! QUOTES Marc Goossens, #75 ProSpeed Porsche: “It was teamwork. Some 10 years ago I was competing with Rudi (Penders) in Belcar, and now winning with his team is a big honour. When Jeroen Bleekemolen was closing in, I knew that I couldn’t make any mistake. When he was just behind me, I saw where he could make a difference and I focused on this.” Marc Hennerici, #75 ProSpeed Porsche: “I am so pleased. In the previous sessions yesterday it was going badly and I was thinking last night that it was going to go badly today but we’ve done really well. The team set up the car nicely and it was a pleasure to drive.” Xavier Maassen, #75 ProSpeed Porsche: “The race was tough but our start was incredible, Marc put the car from seventh to first, unbelievable. So he put the pressure on and when the Safety Car was out we lost a bit of time but it was OK. “We’ve been pushing so hard all year in the championship but at some tracks we’ve been unlucky but today it’s great to see our hard work pay off. We’re going to celebrate for sure.” Congfu Cheng, # 18 Black Falcon SLS: "I'm very happy with today's race result. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 was very well prepared by the Black Falcon team and already in training we were able to lay the foundations for this success. At the start I saw a good opportunity to go inside the opponents and chose a very late braking point. So I found myself in second place overall. My teammates did a good job then, so that we could celebrate this position even after three hours - for me an almost perfect race. " Vincent Vosse, Team Principal WRT: “It is a little bit paradoxical. We are much better off in the championship than when we arrived here, although we haven’t done particularly well. We lacked a little bit of performance, which on the contrary we had in the GT1 races. Without the accident to the Marc VDS team, the championship would be over. But that’s racing, and you have to accept things as they come, the bad and the good ones. The conclusion is that we’ll work full steam ahead in the forthcoming days to go to Spain perfectly geared and determined to fight for both titles!” Markus Palttala, #3 Marc VDS BMW: "I did nothing wrong because I was ahead and I had the right to choose the line. Lunardi put his nose next to my rear bumper (in these cases the car ahead will always lose if there is contact) while I was moving diagonally to the right to claim the corner with optimal entry line. He was still behind and not on my side and I didn't swerve left and right to block him, just one smooth change of line along the straight so there was no quick change of direction to cause the collision. Of course, what makes it trickier to control is that we were under full braking when it happened. So, even if Lunardi tried to back off when he saw that he was running out of space, he could not have if he braked later than me. "However, to avoid the accident, I should not have moved on his trajectory. I should have left him more space there, because I would've stayed ahead in any case. I simply didn't know he went on the outside (most likely to avoid hitting me straight on the rear) and I carry my responsibility for that and for the fact that this incident ended our race." Oliver Morley, # 19 Black Falcon SLS: "For me, today was one of my biggest motor sport successes ever. It's great having such a crew behind us and great team-mates in an incredibly hard-fought race, not only to win the category, but also to take sixth place overall." Steve Jans, # 19 Black Falcon SLS: "The Nürburgring is the home track of the Black Falcon team and it is here that I have most racing experience. While we have seen from the start our chances were good, this result is for me still overwhelming. In my young racing career, today's victory is certainly the biggest success -. I have to credit to the great team performance by Black Falcon " Rob Bell, #9 Gulf Racing McLaren: “Our final finish position was disappointing, but overall there are plenty of positives from our trip to Nürburgring. The Gulf Racing UK crew had meticulously prepared the car and worked well all weekend to put us in the best possible position; this hard work paid off as we proved to be the quickest McLaren of the field. In race trim we were a match for all the other marques and when we were running out front we showed the pace we have in the car. Each outing we’re making strides, so it will be great to get back out on track at Navarra for the final round of the Series.” Marino Franchitti, #5 Botsen Ginion McLaren: "It's always a challenge to come into a new championship at this time of the year. Even more so when it's with a new team and driving a new car so we are pretty happy with a top 10 finish from 38th on the grid. Seiji, Nico and I felt we got the most out of the car, and a great strategy by the Boutsen Ginion team helped us move forward. It was a lot of fun racing in the Blancpain Series and I hope to get the opportunity to do it again soon". | 
