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
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