BLACK FALCON scores important Silver Cup points at Hungaroring

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Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup round 4: Hungaroring race report

BLACK FALCON scored important points for their 2018 Blancpain GT Series Silver Cup campaign at Round 4 of the Sprint Cup. Held at the Hungaroring, the home of the Hungarian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the event’s pair of one-hour races were held in stormy conditions, and the recently resurfaced track proved a challenging venue. 

Hubert Haupt (Germany) and Luca Stolz (Germany) shared the #6 BLACK FALCON Mercedes-AMG GT3. Both drivers were making their team debut in the Sprint Cup series, racing in addition to their full-season BLACK FALCON commitments in Endurance Cup, with Luca moving his normal berth in the Pro class to support Hubert in Silver Cup. 

Joining a 22-strong grid of GT3 machinery, the two drivers showed a steady improvement across the opening sessions as the team got used to not just a new circuit, but also a new group of competitors and the very different environment of sprint racing. 

From 12th overall and fourth in class at the close of Free Practice 1, #6’s drivers moved up to an impressive fourth overall in FP2, setting times a second and a half faster than their FP1 pace and less than one tenth of a second from the quickest lap set in the session. Two Qualifying sessions set the grids for the races; after Q1 #6 were 14th quickest for Race 1, fifth in class, but in Q2 Luca posted a lap that put them in an excellent second on the grid for Race 2 while being the quickest Silver Cup entry by half a second.

As the countdown to Saturday afternoon’s first race began, thankfully bright sunshine began to dry a Hungaroring that earlier had been awash from heavy thunderstorms. Although the track remained slippery, there wasn’t enough moisture for anyone to think of fitting intermediate rain tyres, and the whole grid would start on slicks. Hubert took the rolling start, keeping out of trouble despite being right in the thick of a jostling pack, and fought his way up to 10th by the end of his stint with a typically hard drive. He handed #6 over to Luca just after the halfway mark, who continued the #6’s battle with a gaggle of cars that would last all the way to the end. Rain was reported with 25 minutes to go at the far end of the track, but although the clouds closed in and the sky darkened, the rain stayed away and Luca brought #6 home safely, ninth overall and fourth in class, right on the tail of the cars ahead.

Heavy rain again lashed the Hungaroring again on Sunday morning, with lightning flashing overhead and the ominous rumbling of thunder booming around the track. Although the rain eased slightly as the mid-afternoon race time approached, this time there was no hope of a dry track and the 22 GT3s initially followed the Safety Car, giving the drivers a chance to sample the wet conditions and helping to clear the worst of the water. Luca splashed through the puddles on his way round the opening laps, looking to discover where the grip could be found. Finally, after three laps the pack was released and the cars blasted across the line in line astern with 50 minutes left to race. 

Luca’s fine qualifying paid dividends, as the cars behind him disappeared in a ball of spray while his visibility remained relatively unobscured, and he set off in pursuit of first place. Over the next 25 minutes, Luca maintained a stable five-second gap to the leader while pulling away from the pack of cars fighting over third. BLACK FALCON eked out Luca’s first stint to the limit of the pit window, just in case there was the chance of slicks, but the track remained stubbornly wet and Hubert blasted out of the pits with a new set of wet tyres bolted on for his 25 minute sprint to the finish. With 15 minutes to go Hubert slipped to third, and soon after a Safety Car neutralised the race so recovery crews could retrieve a spun car. The Safety Car was withdrawn with just eight minutes left to run, unfortunately wiping out Hubert’s gap to his pursuers. Hubert made a phenomenal restart, almost regaining second as they made their way through the first part of the lap, but he was then swamped by a gaggle of Pro cars as the rain began to fall again. 

With the nearest Silver Cup car back in 10th, Hubert’s priority changed to the Silver Cup opposition, and for the final five minutes he gamely fought for ninth, but he was ambushed over the final laps and would have to settle for fourth in Silver Cup as he crossed the line in 13th overall – which became 12th following a post-race penalty for a car ahead. Still, the weekend’s results added important points to BLACK FALCON’s Silver Cup campaign, and the team leave Hungary second in the overall Sprint Cup points table and in touching distance of the class leaders. 

BLACK FALCON’s next opportunity to score points is at the Sprint Cup finale, to be held at the Nürburgring in two weeks. 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.

Images by SRO Motorsports Group / Dirk Bogaerts,Patrick Hecq