Summary: Kessel Racing capped off the final two hours with stunning drives from Giacomo Piccini and Davide Rigon to hold off the Black Falcon SLS behind to take the win in red-flag shortened race.
As the 10th hour started, Davide Rigon continued his charge to hand Kessel Racing the lead, and took the place going into Turn 12 with two hours 46 minutes remaining.
After that move the Kessel Ferrari held station until Piccini took the wheel again, keeping both the #2 Black Falcon Mercedes and Oman Racing Aston Martin at bay.
The gap between the top two was around 10 seconds until the final hour, but Yelmer Buurman in his final stint in the car to the flag began reeling in the Ferrari ahead. The Aston meanwhile slipped 50 seconds adrift, essentially out of the running bar an unexpected incident hampering the duo up front.
One of the big stories of the race was the rise of the #55 AF Corse Ferrari which was involved in the Turn 1 incident in part one. The trio of Marco Cioci, Jack Gerber and Ilya Melinkov slowly made their way to the front of field after losing a considerable amount of time repairing the rear. To finish fifth, and second in Pro Am after all they’ve been through is a remarkable achievement.
Davide Rigon climbed abord the Kessel Ferrari for the run to the flag, and managed to extend his to over 20 seconds by the end of the race. Yelmer Buurman was unable to match the Italian’s pace which was been stellar throughout.
The race didn’t conclude with a traditional ending however, as red flags came out with a quarter of an hour to go for the #99 Kessel Racing Ferrari which went off from the lead in the Gentlemen class, and the #38 Black Pearl Ferrari, forcing the organisers to call it early.
The #99 did win the class though, as the race finished just before the red flags.
The final top 5:
#11 Kessel Racing Ferrari
#2 Black Falcon Racing Mercedes
#44 Oman Racing Team Aston Martin
#55 AF Corse – Pro Am leader
#51 Kessel Ferrari
#99 Kessel Ferrari – Gentlemen class leader
Cup Class leader – #20 MRS GT-Racing Porsche
Words & photo: Stephen Kilbey
