BLACK FALCON defends championship lead in Misano
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Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe – Race Report Round 2, Misano
BLACK FALCON achieved two top-5 results at the second Blancpain GT World Series Europe event in Misano. On Saturday the Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Maro Engel (DE) and Luca Stolz (DE) crossed the finish line in third place. At the fourth race of the season on Sunday, the number 4 AMG finished fourth after a great race to catch up from eleventh on the grid. After the second of five race weekends BLACK FALCON leads the team ranking of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe. Engel and Stolz also claim the championship lead in the drivers' standings with these good results.
At the third race of the season on the 4.2 km long Misano World Circuit on Saturday evening, Stolz, who started from sixth position, started a race to catch up right from the start of the race. He completed a strong first stint and handed the car over to his team-mate Engel in third position adjusted for the pit-stops. The two leaders were already a few seconds ahead at this point, so Maro Engel brought the AMG home in third position.
On Sunday noon the race started with swapped reels: Maro Engel went into the race from position 11 and fought some intense battles in the dense midfield. With a perfectly timed pit stop directly after a safety car phase, the team made up several places. Luca Stolz returned to the track in fifth place and began a hunt to close the gap. After a lap-long fight for fourth position he finally found the right gap and then took to the front. He set the fastest lap of the race and reduced the gap to third place lap by lap, leaving only a few hundredths of a second short of fourth podium in the fourth race.
Quotes on the weekend
Sean Paul Breslin (Team Principal BLACK FALCON GT): "We experienced a mixed weekend with an improvable performance in qualifying and a strong performance in both races. The team worked very well and quickly found a suitable set-up on a circuit that was new for us. We're now focusing on the preparations for the 24h Spa and the sprint race at Zandvoort".
Maro Engel (driver #4): "We can be very satisfied with both races. The starting position in the second race was difficult, but we made the best of it and scored important points. It wasn't an easy weekend, so many thanks to Luca and the whole team for the hard work!
Luca Stolz (driver #4): "It was a good weekend for us throughout. We're very happy to have scored points again, so we're still championship leaders. We still have a little work to do to improve our performance in qualifying. Nevertheless, the team did a great job. We have to build on the performance now to be able to win some races in the future".
