BLACK FALCON wins Endurance Cup of the Blancpain GT Series

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Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Round 5: Race Report Barcelona

Six weeks after the victory at the season finale of the Blancpain GT Series at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, BLACK FALCON finally celebrates the triumph in the team and driver championship of the Endurance Cup. After a superior victory on the track, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 by Yelmer Buurman, Maro Engel and Luca Stolz was disqualified by the stewards on site. BLACK FALCON did not accept this decision and appealed. The responsible sports court granted the team's appeal and decided that the suspicion of obtaining a performance advantage was not justified.

At the season finale on 30.09.2018 in Barcelona, the drivers' trio Buurman, Engel and Stolz started the race from pole position after a perfect qualifying. Starting driver Engel delivered an impressive performance, setting himself apart from the rest of the field by more than 20 seconds within the first hour of the race. Stolz took the wheel of the AMG GT3 for the second third of the race and further extended the lead before two safety car periods pushed the field back together again. Shortly before the end of the race, Buurman, the final driver, suddenly found himself in a duel with the runner-up in the championship due to another safety car period. In a 5-minute sprint to the finish Buurman not only secured the overall victory for the crew of car number four but also the team and driver title of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

In the Pro-Am class Saud Al Faisal, Kriton Lendoudis and Rui Aguas had a flawless race and worked their way to the front during the 3-hour race. Starting from 11th place in the class, the trio was already in sixth place at the halfway mark and eventually crossed the finish line in fifth place. In the Pro-Am class championship classification, the three Blancpain GT Series newcomers finished fifth at the end of a good season. They achieved the best result of the season at the 1000 kilometre race at the Circuit Paul Ricard and finished third in their class after more than six hours of driving time.

For Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Gabriele Piana the season finale didn't go as planned. The number 6 drivers had travelled to Barcelona with a lead in the Silver Cup class classification and had secured an excellent starting position to clinch the championship title in the class with second place in qualifying. A technical failure at the halfway point of the race put an abrupt end to the title hopes of Al Faisal, Haupt and Piana, who finished the season in second place in the Silver Cup standings after one race victory, one second and two third places.

"Already on site in Barcelona, we made it clear to the organizer that the adhesive tape in question by the technicians is only for securing purposes and does not provide any performance advantage. The judgement of the court has now confirmed our statements.
The whole team worked hard for this success and was rewarded with the first overall victory in the Blancpain GT Series in the company's history at Barcelona. Winning the team and driver championship is the well-deserved reward for a flawless season at the highest level and the many years of work by the entire team," says team boss Sean Paul Breslin.