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Silverstone Blancpain: Ferrari gets first Endurance win in six years

Ferrari claimed a first Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup victory in six years at Silverstone with the SMP Racing squad

The Russian entrant's Ferrari 488 GT3 shared by Mikhail Aleshin, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon came from 10th on the grid to score a 2.6-second victory over the best of the FFF Racing Team Lamborghinis driven by Franck Perera, Phil Keen and Giovanni Venturini.

Rigon moved into the lead with a neat move up the inside of Venturini in the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo at the Luffield right-hander with 15 minutes left on the clock to notch up Ferrari's first victory since Monza in April 2013.

The Ferrari gained during the first pitstop cycle when Aleshin handed over to Molina under full-course yellow virtual safety car conditions.

Molina emerged from the pit sequence in second position behind Keen in the FFF Lamborghini, another to gain by stopping under the yellows, before losing out Andrea Caldarelli in another of the Italian team's Huracans.

The SMP entry then moved back to second when the #563 FFF car Caldarelli shared with Dennis Lind and Marco Mapelli lost time in the second stops.

Rigon later latched onto the tail of Venturini with half an hour to go before making the successful pass.

The WRT Audi R8 LMS driven by Dries Vanthoor, Alex Riberas and Ezequiel Perez Companc jumped from fifth to third over a dramatic final couple of laps.

Jack Hawksworth was battling to hold onto third position in the Strakka Mercedes-AMG GT3 he shared with Lewis Williamson and Dev Gore when he was nudged into a spin at Club Corner by Mapelli.

Mapelli sustained damage in the incident and was overtaken by Vanthoor, Mathieu Jaminet in the best of the Rowe Racing Porsche 911 GT3-Rs and then by Hawksworth as he limped home to take sixth.

The Porsche, which Jaminet shared with Romain Dumas and Sven Muller, and the Strakka Mercedes came through from the back of the grid after the first of the drivers in the two cars failed to set a time in the three-part qualifying session.

The early laps were led by the pole-winning Grasser Lamborghini.

Mirko Bortolotti was holding a narrow lead over Lind when he sustained a left rear puncture as he braked for Copse Corner after 22 laps.

Honours in the silver cup class went to the Grasser Lamborghini shared by Lucas Mauron, Arno Santamato and Gerhard Tweraser.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 M.Molina, M.Aleshin, D.Rigon SMP Racing Ferrari 76 3h00m53.929s
2 F.Perera, P.Keen, G.Venturini Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 76 2.631s
3 D.Vanthoor, E.P.Companc, A.Riberas Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 76 12.215s
4 S.Muller, R.Dumas, M.Jaminet Rowe Racing Porsche 76 14.100s
5 L.Williamson, D.Gore, J.Hawksworth Strakka Racing Mercedes 76 18.880s
6 A.Caldarelli, D.Lind, M.Mapelli Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 76 22.609s
7 Y.Buurman, L.Stolz, M.Engel Black Falcon Mercedes 76 33.914s
8 A.Santamato, G.Tweraser, L.Mauron GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 76 34.440s
9 S.Schothorst, P.Schothorst, M.Drudi Attempto Racing Audi 76 34.453s
10 N.Bastian, T.Boguslavskiy, F.Fraga Akka ASP Team Mercedes 76 36.512s
11 S.Gachet, S.Palette, C.Haase Sainteloc Racing Audi 76 36.742s
12 J.Pepper, J.Gounon, S.Kane Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 76 38.736s
13 R.Salikhov, D.Bulatov, D.Perel Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 76 39.871s
14 A.Buncombe, A.Soucek, M.Soulet Bentley Team M-Sport Bentley 76 40.401s
15 J.Pull, J.Witt, S.Mitchell Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 76 41.351s
16 M.McMurry, P.Frommenwiler, S.Moore Jenson Team Rocket RJN Honda 76 41.573s
17 M.Vaxiviere, M.Parry, M.Martin R-Motorsport Aston Martin 76 44.503s
18 K.Bachler, A.Rizzoli, Z.Ashkanani Dinamic Motorsport Porsche 76 46.440s
19 D.Olsen, D.Werner, M.Campbell Rowe Racing Porsche 76 53.044s
20 H.Haupt, P.Assenheimer, G.Piana Black Falcon Mercedes 76 56.891s
21 K-L.Schramm, F.Hutchison, I.Pareras Phoenix Racing Audi 76 1m08.679s
22 N.Hommerson, L.Machiels, A.Bertolini AF Corse Ferrari 76 1m08.852s
23 S.Yoluc, A.Al Harthy, C.Eastwood Oman Racing Team with TF Sport Aston Martin 76 1m10.056s
24 S.Davies, P.Petit, A.MacDowall Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 76 1m10.394s
25 R.L.Vos, T.O.-Cole RAM Racing Mercedes 76 1m29.781s
26 D.Dupont, D.Stoneman, S.Gattuso Ombra Racing Lamborghini 76 1m32.098s
27 C.Buncombe, J.Hui, C.Froggatt Tempesta Racing Ferrari 76 2m01.958s
28 B.Goethe, J.Grogor, S.Hall GPX Racing Porsche 76 2m06.235s
29 A.Amstutz, L.Machitski, M.Ramos Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini 75 1 Lap
30 D.Pierce, R.Smith, S.Morris Team Parker Racing Bentley 75 1 Lap
31 F.Barthez, B.Delhez Tech 1 Racing Lexus 75 1 Lap
32 K.Richard, N.Pohler, F.Crestani Daiko Lazarus Racing Lamborghini 75 1 Lap
33 A.West, C.Harris, C.Goodwin Garage 59 Aston Martin 75 1 Lap
34 S.Costantini, A.Forne, C.Lenz Raton Racing by Target Lamborghini 75 1 Lap
35 J.Pla, M.Ricci, J-L.Beaubelique Akka ASP Team Mercedes 75 1 Lap
36 M.Bortolotti, C.Engelhart, R.Ineichen GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini 74 2 Laps
37 F.Scholze, A.Lewandowski, J.Liebhauser HB Racing Ferrari 73 3 Laps
38 C-Y.Gosselin, P.Feligioni, R.Kuppens Boutsen Ginion Racing Lamborghini 73 3 Laps
39 M.Rostan, K.Ojjeh, P.Eng Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW 60 16 Laps
40 M.Kirchhofer, J.Dennis, N.Thiim R-Motorsport Aston Martin 59 17 Laps
- S.Parrow, C.Hook, M.Lauck Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 35 Retirement
- M.Beretta, T.Proto, D.Menchaca Orange 1 FFF Racing Team Lamborghini 34 Retirement
- C.Schmid, N.Foster, K.van der Linde Attempto Racing Audi 15 Retirement
- R.Breukers, C.Weerts, R.Sanchez Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi 14 Retirement
- R.Marciello, M.Meadows, V.Abril Mercedes-AMG Team Akka ASP Mercedes 0 Retirement
- C.Ledogar, A.Watson, J.Adam Garage 59 Aston Martin 0 Retirement
- P.Ehret, M.Berry, J.M.Balbiani Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 0 Retirement
- F.Michal, N.Stievenart, M.Winkelhock Sainteloc Racing Audi 0 Retirement

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