SILVERSTONE, England—M-Sport Bentley wrote a new piece of Bentley history at Silverstone with a stunning victory at the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. In only the second competition event for both the Continental GT3 and the new race team, the #7 car driven by Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane drove an astonishing race to take the checkered flag in first place.
After recovering from a drive-through penalty in the first stint that left car #7 in 7th place, a combination of flawless driving and perfect pitstops allowed Kane to take the lead with just 15 minutes of the three-hour race left. He was then able to manage the pace and maintain a two-second gap to the
#99 McLaren of Andy Soucek , eventually leading him across the line to take the checkered flag to the delight of the M-Sport Bentley team and the British fans gathered at the track.
Rolf Frech, Member of the Board for Engineering at Bentley, comments: “We knew our Continental GT3 was a potential race winner, but to finish first in only the car’s second race in the series feels very special. Bentley has a history of winning, and today we’ve written the start of the next chapter in our long history. The victory today is the result of an outstanding effort by the whole team, and is the reward for a great deal of hard work since the first round at Monza.â€
Bentley’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, adds: “That was a hard-fought race. When Guy took the drive-through penalty in the first hour, we knew we had the pace to get back on the podium, and we were determined to do so. The car was very strong, the drivers were impeccable and the pit stop crew recorded their best ever times–including their practices over the last month! The Continental GT3’s strength is in long, fast corners, and our pace here will hopefully translate to good speed at the other rounds of the championship. In the meantime, a maiden victory at the home of British motorsport feels fantastic.â€
Steven Kane was behind the wheel for the final stint and took the checkered flag. He comments:
“Today has been epic. We didn’t get any real dry running done yesterday because of the weather, so we were relieved when we set good times in qualifying this morning. In the race, the car was fantastic, especially with how well it looked after its tires. That gave me the grip and traction I needed to take the lead in to Brooklands, and after that we knew we could hold first place. Standing on the top step of the podium with Guy and Andy was a very, very special moment and I now know I can call myself a true Bentley Boy.â€
The second M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 of Jérôme D’Ambrosio, Duncan Tappy and Antoine Leclerc had a tougher afternoon. Starting from P14, Jérôme was hit by another car and forced off the track on the third lap, sustaining a puncture. The ensuing pitstop dropped the #8 Bentley to 42nd place, but over the rest of the race the car was able to recover to finish in 15th–a great result given the poor start.
The two M-Sport Bentleys started the race in 4th and 14th. As the race began, Guy Smith was able to move the #7 car up to 2nd, while Jérôme took #8 to P12. Contact with a BMW Z4 GT3 forced Jérôme off the track a punctured tire. The slow in-lap and pitstop cost time, and the car returned to the track in 42nd place.
On lap 15, while fighting through traffic, Guy was boxed in by backmarkers, allowing the McLaren in 3rd to move in front. A few laps later, both Bentleys were given drive-through penalties for improving their sector times while a yellow flag was in force. This dropped Guy in the #7 car to P7. The cars pitted sequentially on lap 31, with Andy Meyrick and Duncan Tappy taking control of cars #7 and #8 respectively. The pit stops were fast enough to bring #7 out in 5th place, while #8 rejoined in P26.
In his stint, Andy Meyrick was able to move quickly up to 3rd place on lap 38, and after closing a 27-gap then made a stunning move to take 2nd place from Gregoi re Demoustier in the McLaren. He made his pit stop a few laps later on lap 54, handing the car over to Steven Kane. Duncan Tappy pitted on lap
61 having moved up several places, and Antoine Leclerc was able to make further progress in the final stint to finish 15th.
Steven’s stint began with a charge in to the 21-second lead of the #99 McLaren. Having closed the gap to 17 seconds, the safety car was deployed, compressing the field. At the restart on lap 67, traffic meant that Steven had a 6.5-second gap to the leader, but with less than 15 minutes to go Steven had caught the McLaren and made his move up the inside through the Brooklands complex. He crossed the line six laps later to take an historic win for M-Sport Bentley.
The team now looks forward to the third round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, to be held at Paul Ricard on Saturday 28th June.
The Continental GT3 is built by the Bentley motorsport team in conjunction with M-Sport. The Bentley GT3 team is led by Bentley Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush and M-Sport’s Chief Engineer, Christian Loriaux. M-Sport was originally formed in 1979, and in 1994 M-Sport won national rally titles in Italy, Portugal, the Middle East and Britain, the latter with founder Malcolm Wilson himself behind the wheel.
Since 1996, M-Sport has run Ford’s WRC campaigns, including winning two FIA World Rally Championships in 2006 and 2007.
In 2002, Bentley launched the Continental GT, then the most powerful Bentley ever built. Breitling lent the revolutionary new luxury car an extra personal touch, by participating in the design of the technical instruments and, importantly, creating the onboard clock. Following a successful collaboration during Bentley’s renowned Le Mans campaign from 2001 to 2003, Breitling has returned as a key sponsor of the Continental GT3 project.
Bentley Motors employs around 3,700 people in Crewe which is home to all its operations including design, R&D, engineering and production. The combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been handed down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury vehicle manufacturers such as Bentley. It is also an example of high-value British manufacturing at its best. Bentley exports over £1bn worth of goods in 2012. The company is the third largest R&D investor in the UK’s automotive sector and the 18th largest nationally.