Race report

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Silverstone

Lamborghini takes second straight win by 0.3s

Factory Lamborghini drivers Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Christian Engelhart made it two wins from two starts in Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone.

Gary Watkins

Edited: May 14, 2017, 10:54 PM

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#63 GRT Grasser Racing Team, Lamborghini Huracan GT3: Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart, Andrea Caldarelli

#84 Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport, Mercedes-AMG GT3: Maximilian Buhk, Franck Perera, Jimmy Eriksson

#90 Akka ASP, Mercedes-AMG GT3: Michael Meadows, Raffaele Marciello, Edoardo Mortara

#88 Akka ASP, Mercedes-AMG GT3: Felix Serralles, Daniel Juncadella, Tristan Vautier

The trio claimed victory by just three tenths of a second from the HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared by Franck Perera, Jimmy Eriksson and Maximilian Buhk to follow up on their win in the Monza series opener last month.

Bortolotti dominated the opening stint, building up a six-second advantage that was ultimately undone by a short safety-car period that immediately preceded the first round of pitstops.

Caldarelli dropped to second during the stops after an early pit-call by the Auto Sport Promotion Merc started by Edoardo Mortara gave teammate Michael Meadows the lead.

An attempt by Caldarelli to wrest the lead from the Merc around the outside at Brooklands only resulted in the Lambo losing second to Eriksson at Luffield.

The top three entered the pits for the final round of stops in nose-to-tail formation, the Grasser crew winning the race to turn the cars around to get Engelhart out back in the lead.

Engelhart was able to maintain a narrow gap to Raffaele Marciello, who lost second spot to Buhk with just over 20 minutes to go.

The Mercs got then held up in traffic, which allowed the Lambo to open up a lead of more than three seconds.

Buhk closed down Engelhart in the closing stages and was right with the Lambo with three laps to go. But Engelhart held on to win by 0.3s.

Engelhart said: "I was surprised that I had quite a margin but also surprised at how quickly the Merc could catch up.

Caldarelli added: "Both our pitstops were perfect today and I think that's where we won it."

Marciello was three seconds down at the finish in third, a similar margin ahead of the fourth-place SMP Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 shared by Viktor Shaytar, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon.

The M-Sport Bentley claimed fifth spot with the Continental GT3 driven by Vincent Abril, Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet, which vaulted into contention from outside the top 20 during the first pitstop cycle.

The AF Corse-run Spirit of Race Ferrari shared by Pasin Lathouras, Michele Rugolo and Alessandro Pier Guidi took sixth.

The ASP Merc in which Daniel Juncadella had taken pole position ended up 11th after a one-minute stop-go penalty for an infraction at the start.

Pro-Am honours went to the British Barwell Lamborghini squad.

Patrick Kujala, who shared the car with Martin Kodric and Adrian Amstutz, hung on to cross the line just over a second clear of the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage V12 that Jonny Adam had taken over from Ahmad Al Harthy for the final stint.

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