Bentley Team HTP won both the Silver Cup class in the qualifying race and feature race of yesterday’s Brands Hatch round of the 2015 Blancpain Sprint Series.
With the #84 Bentley Continental GT3 of Maximilian Buhk and Vincent Abril having to miss both races due to an earlier incident in practice sessions, the #83 of Olivier Lombard and Jules Szymkowiak was the sole Bentley in the races.
During the qualifying race, the #83 battled for a top-10 overall position but ultimately failed to do so when Lombard was spun towards the end of the race. The car finished 13th, but still ahead of the other Silver Cup entries.
In the afternoon’s feature race, things once again didn’t go as planned, with Lombard spinning on the opening lap and going down to last position. He immediately started moving back through the pack, and he and Szymkowiak finished the race 12th overall, but again 1st in class.
“Olivier Lombard and Jules Szymkowiak showed a great performance and took two class wins in only their second weekend in this series,” Bentley Team HTP Team Principal Norbert Brückner said. “Our two junior drivers deserved a finish in the top-10, but unfortunately an unnecessary contact by a competitor prevented this. It was very disappointing that we could only compete with one car this weekend, as we certainly had the potential for a good result with Maximilian Buhk und Vincent Abril. The most important thing is that Maximilian Buhk is fine after his heavy impact.”
“Each lap in the car is very important for me because Olivier and I still have to learn a lot about the car, plus we are also new to GT racing.” commented Jules Szymkowiak. “Our program with the Bentley came together quite late, so we still learn with every mile on the race track. Today, I had a lot of confidence in the car and I had some great fights. Especially in door-to-door battles, I learned a lot this weekend and I see that we are on a very good path.”
The next race in the Blancpain Sprint Series will be at Zolder on June 5-7, but the Endurance Series will visit Silverstone beforehand, on May 23-24.
