Frederic Vasseur’s ART Grand Prix team put on a dominant display for the first round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series at Monza, bringing its #98 and #99 McLaren MP4 12-Cs home in first and third places respectively. McLaren factory driver Alvaro Parente streaked away from the field on new tyres at the start, building up an impressive 20-second lead that never looked under serious threat during either Gregoire Demoustier or GT3 newcomer Alexandre Premat’s stints.
Strong second and third stints from Stephane Ortelli and Gregory Guilvert in the #26 Sainteloc Audi kept the French car in touch for much of the race, but Premat managed the gap to the flag and result was not as close as the five-second margin suggests.
In the #99 car, GP3 graduate Kevin Korjus impressed with a solid middle stint, ably backed up by team-mates Kevin Estre and Andy Soucek before and after. Soucek came under pressure from Laurens Vanthoor’s #1 WRT Audi in the closing minutes of the race, but just held on to claim a double podium finish for the vastly experienced French team.
Reigning BES champion Max Buhk finished fifth for HTP Mercedes, co-driving with Nico Verdonck and Harold Primat, while the debuting M-Sport Bentleys had a very promising first race, evenutally coming home in formation in seventh and eighth after running as high as second in the first stint.
Pro-Am Cup victory went to the ROAL Motorosport BMW Z4 of Stefano Colombo, Stefano Comandini and Eugenio Amos. The #43 car was pushed hard by Simon Knap in the #50 AF Corse Ferrari in the middle stint, but the 458 faded in the final stint and the Italian BMW had a clear run to the flag.
The Gentlemen Trophy class was won by Pierre Ehret, Frank Schmikler and Alexander Mattschull in the GT Corse by Rinaldi 458. The team’s other car had run as high as second in the opening stages in the hands of Marco Seefried, but an incident-packed stint for gentleman driver Vadim Kogay quickly saw the Ferrari tumble down the order.
Full report to follow.
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