It’s hard to dispute that the biggest story from the 2014 Blancpain test sessions at Paul Ricard was how well the two new 2014 GT3 cars ran. What was impressive was not just the number of laps they ran, but how quick the Camaro and Bentley Continental were out of the box against the competition.
While it is hard to read too much into the times set by the 45 cars at the two test days, there may be some indicators in form going into the first rounds of the Sprint and Endurance series next month. The development of the cars has also been frozen for this year, so the teams were without any significant changes to adapt to.
M-Sport’s well turned out Bentley Continental GT3, with seven British drivers at the helm, ran flawlessly during the two days, and set the best lap time of the event, too, with a 1:56.584 during Tuesday morning. The team have big plans for the new season, and these two days were the perfect way to start the year off – lots of running for all the drivers and head-turning speed.
The other brand new GT3 car at the test was the Chevrolet Camaro GT3 under the Reiter Engineering banner. On Tuesday the team ran quietly, just outside the top 20 for most of the day, but on Wednesday the car shone and held the best time for almost the entire day. The ever-hardworking German team will return to their base very optimistic about the season ahead.
Team LNT were the only other team entering a car new to the Blancpain scene, the Ginetta G55, but ran very quietly. While they managed to stay in the top 30 runners throughout the first day, the Wednesday saw them finish towards the bottom of the classification in 33rd and over three seconds off the pace.
Another chassis which had a quiet outing was Aston Martin V8 Vantage, which was entered by both Aston Martin Racing and Oman Racing Performance; both teams rarely making it off the second timing screen on both days. However, both teams had a lot of learning to do during their time at the circuit.
Oman Racing are new to the car and the factory squad were using the test as a chance for newcomers to the team, Stuart Leonard and Paul Wilson, to get to grips with the Vantage.
The two high-profile names coming into the test were Alex Zanardi and Nelson Piquet Jr. The pair used the time to try their hand at the Z4 although the end results were somewhat mixed. The modified ROAL Z4 which Zanardi used had mechanical issues on the Tuesday and Piquet’s Sports Trophy Team Brasil BMW was damaged pretty heavily during the Wednesday morning session by fellow Brazilian Caca Bueno, with whom he was sharing the car.
All the other BMW teams were competitive throughout, though. TDS Racing consistently found themselves in the top 10. Former Marc VDS driver Nick Catsburg and Henry Hassid in the #12 and the French trio of Nicolas Armindo, Benjamin Lariche and Eric Clement in the #10 all put up good lap times.
Chab Racing and DKR Engineering too had good outings, despite having limited running on the first day. The final session saw the two teams significantly improve their times, ending up second and third overall on the day.
Audi and Ferrari were marques that were also present in the group of quicker runners. Phoenix Racing had a great outing on the first day with their pair of R8s, but couldn’t find the same pace during the second. And the perennial Blancpain contenders – WRT – went about their business as they usually do, staying consistent and quick with their trio of LMS ultras, which each had their piece of the limelight at various points throughout the four sessions.
2013 title contender Kessel Racing and Sport Garage flew the flag for The Prancing Horse during the event. Meanwhile, the interesting factory #101 Ferrari Corse Clienti 458 with Monegasque GT veteran Olivier Beretta at the wheel also consistently broke the 2:00 barrier and mixed in with the quicker teams.
Bob Neville’s impressive GT Academy RJN Nissan GT-R had a notable run too. Aside from a minor incident with a Ferrari on Tuesday afternoon, the four new drivers adapted to the car well and reminded the field of their position once again as favourites in the Pro-Am category.
McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche, Lamborghini and Jaguar also made an appearance, but seemingly didn’t leave with much to show (Emil Frey’s GT3 Jaguar not setting a time during either day).
ART Grand Prix led the McLaren teams running the ‘improved’ 2014 MP4-12C GT3 in the middle of the pack, while new team Bhaitech had issues with both their cars. Mechanical troubles hindered their progress, as did sustaining heavy damage to one of their cars after an impact with a barrier in the closing stages of the event. It has left them with a lot of work to do in the coming weeks.
Stephen Kilbey
