Last week, the fourth round of the Blancpain Sprint Series took place as part of the Truck Grand Prix at the Hungaroring.

The Rinaldi Racing Team entered one car in the Am class in Budapest: the black Ferrari 458 with the starting number 66. The steering wheel work behind the black Ferrari was done by Steve Parrow and Christian Hook.

Already on Thursday afternoon, the GT3 cars made their way together with the trucks to the parade on Heroe Square. The black Ferrari started from pole position and led the GT3 field into the centre of Budapest. In bright sunshine, the visitors enjoyed the GT3 cars and the drivers’ autographs.

On Friday, both drivers had time to get used to the track in the free practice sessions. With temperatures above 30 degrees, both drivers steadily improved their lap times and developed a good feeling for the track.

On Saturday afternoon, qualifying started in very warm conditions. Unfortunately, the qualifying did not go according to expectations. But in the end, Parrow and Hook secured third place in the Am classification for the starting grid for the qualifying race.

In the afternoon, Christian Hook started the qualifying race behind the wheel of the Ferrari 458. Hook got a good start and was able to stay out of the collision in front of him. Thus, he gained a few positions right at the start. Then the chase to second place in the Am standings began. After a good pit stop and stable lap times, the #66 was able to secure second place on the last lap of the race.

Steve Parrow took the start in the main race on Sunday from row 15. Right at the start, Parrow was able to grab first place in the Am classification and kept this position until the driver change. Despite a very good pit stop, Hook dropped back to third in the Am class. The other two riders were simply too fast, despite their bronze rating, and kept up with the times of the top riders. But our two drivers were happy about the trophy and the champagne shower for third place.

The next race in the Blancpain GT Series will take place at the Nürburgring from 17 to 18 September. The three-hour endurance race will again be a home game for Rinaldi Racing. There, the team will compete with two cars: the Ferrari 458 #66 with Steve Parrow, Alexander Mattschull and Daniel Keilwitz and the Ferrari 488 #333 with Pierre Ehret and Rinat Salikhov.