Grässer Racing crowned Blancpain GT champions while AKKA-ASP wins at Barcelona


The Mercedes AMG GT3 was in good form at Barcelona for the final round of the Blancpain GT Series in 2017, and this was proved by the incredible win of AKKA-ASP an its No. 88 car, but the biggest celebrations stayed with Grässer Racing as the Lamborghini team got all overall trophies possible this Sunday (01).

The first point to worry in the race was the torrential rain that fell into Barcelona in the morning, and even though the track was mostly damp in the race start, the sky was still with dark clouds around the circuit. The green flag came with good track condition, and WRT was quick to protect the front row and formed a 1-2 with the Audis No. 17 & 5 while the No. 84 HTP Mercedes was leading the huge chasing pack right from the back wing of the leaders.

Marcel Fässler wasn't exactly fond of doing team play there and started to attack the No. 17, which eventually worked near the 10-minute mark, although the risks taken were a bit overboard, specially with the No. 84 right behind. The pace of Stuart Leonard cost another position to the No. 17 as the No. 84 got into second place three minutes later, with the No. 5 being the target now. Things were pretty much settled until near the 30-minute mark when a full course yellow emerged after an off from the No. 82 GRT Lamborghini. The car left the gravel trap, but not without some crane help as it was totally beached there.

A traffic jam in the restart simply got the No. 5 and the No. 84 stuck while the No. 17 WRT Audi and the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes jumped in front. Another car with some serious sneaking abilities was the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini as it went to fourth after outpacing the No. 4 Black Falcon and the No. 84 HTP Mercedes at once in the brake battle at the hairpin, and used the same tactics a lap later to overtake the No. 5 WRT Audi for third.

The No. 5 was lacking pace and losing positions quickly, and with 1 hour and 15 minutes of racing it called it a day as it was brought to the WRT garage with problems and didn't return.

On halfway point, things were totally on favor of the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini in terms of the championship, as the No. 8 M-SPORT Bentley was with its own troubles trying to get into 9th place while the No. 99 ROWE BMW and the No. 114 Emil Frey Jaguar were holding it. What the M-SPORT crew didn't expected was a gearbox problem that made the No. 8 agonizingly limp to the garage, losing any opportunity to fight for the titles.

The final pit stops didn't change anything in the top spot order, with the No. 17 WRT Audi still chasing the No. 88 AKKA-ASP Mercedes for the lead of the race, and behind them the No. 63 GRT Lamborghini was consolidating its position as it was pretty much enough to settle the championship. Eventually for its own good, the Lamborghini got isolated in third while the No. 88 and the No. 17 were battling for the lead and the No. 4 Black Falcon and the No. 84 HTP were in a Mercedes battle for fourth.



The No. 17 kept the pressure until the last corner, but it wasn't enough to take the win out of the No. 88, while the No. 63 crossed in third, getting all overall titles in the Blancpain GT Series and the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup.

Pro-Am Cup honors went to the No. 77 Barwell Lamborghini after an off-track ride put the No. 15 Black Falcon Mercedes out of contention for the class win, and in the Am Cup the No. 488 Rinaldi Ferrari got the win with an impressive show, enough to match the pace of the Pro-Am Cup entries.

PHOTOS: Blancpain GT Series

Comments