Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Round 3: Paul Ricard race preview

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BLACK FALCON’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be racing deep into the night in the south of France this weekend, as they take part in a specially extended endurance marathon at the stunning Paul Ricard circuit. The third round of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup takes up the classic 1000km distance used in so many legendary sportscar races, almost twice the normal three-hour length typically used in the championship. The event, hosted by the home of this year’s Formula 1 French Grand Prix, will also serve as the perfect warm-up for July’s season highlight: the 24 Hours of Spa.

BLACK FALCON’s trio of season-long entries are part of a strong 51-car field, with almost half the grid participating in the top-line Pro class for all-professional driver squads. The Pro class #4 Mercedes-AMG Team BLACK FALCON AMG GT3 stars Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands), Maro Engel (Germany) and Luca Stolz (Germany). They’ve been at the sharp end of the two races held so far, scoring an overall podium at Monza and finishing just seconds away from a repeat performance at Silverstone. The #4 crew lie third in the overall standings, and the elongated race format will play to the strengths of this highly experienced squad.

Rui Aguas (Portugal), Saud Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia) and Kriton Lendoudis (Greece) continued their strong debut in the Blancpain series with another solid points finish at Silverstone. They’re currently sixth in the Pro-Am Teams championship, and another good finish will see them move inexorably up the order.

The drivers of the #6 Mercedes-AMG GT3, Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia), Hubert Haupt (Germany) and Gabriele Piana (Italy), celebrated a fantastic victory in the Silver Cup at Silverstone, dominating their class and fighting with Pro class cars to the finish. Paul Ricard is the perfect venue for them to again show their quality and to try and stretch their lead in the Silver Cup Drivers standings.

The opening sessions for the weekend’s actions kick off on Friday June 1st with Free Practice and Pre-Qualifying. Qualifying for the main race will take place on Saturday morning, with the race itself commencing at 17:45 CET and due to finish with a flourish near midnight. Full live timing and streaming video for qualifying and the race itself will be available at www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live, and you can support BLACK FALCON across all social media platforms: follow them via twitter.com/TeamBlackFalcon, facebook.com/teamblackfalcon/ and instagram.com/teamblackfalcon to get live action updates direct from the tracks, as well as fantastic images of the team in action.

RACE DATES
Blancpain Endurance Series
Round 3: 1-2 June (Paul Ricard)
Test Day: 3 July (Spa)
Round 4: 26-29 July (Spa 24 Hours)
Round 5: 29-30 September (Barcelona)