GT Corse by Rinaldi has experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Class victory in the Gentlemen Trophy, difficult race in the Pro-Am category.

Team GT Corse by Rinaldi returned from the Blancpain Endurance Series (BES) race weekend at Silverstone with another class victory. The “Eifel Ferraristi” around team boss Danny Pfeil celebrated their second victory in the Gentlemen Trophy in the second race of the season. Alexander Mattschull and Frank Schmickler presented another strong performance in Great Britain in the number 458 Ferrari F458. In the Pro-Am category Marco Seefried, Vadim Kogay and Rinat Salikhov (number 333) fought under difficult conditions.

Danny Pfeil (Team Principal): “It was our second class win in a row – super! We experienced a really exciting race in Silverstone, which was a real rollercoaster of emotions for us. We really went through everything: rain, practice interruptions, safety car phases, penalties and in the race a real nail-biter in the final phase. Fortunately, Alexander and Frank stayed cool and drove home the class win. Not too much went right for our car with the starting number 333. Rinat, Vadim and Marco had to fight with a damaged car after contact with the enemy, plus a puncture, which certainly didn’t make our car any faster. For Rinat, it was his first start in this series, which has a strong line-up of 40 GT cars, but he got off to a good start. Vadim was under a lot of pressure after Monza. But he handled it well and showed that he is getting better and better at adapting to what is probably the strongest GT series in Europe. We will work hard in the coming weeks to ensure that we can be even more competitive in qualifying with both cars in the future.”

Michele Rinaldi (Technical Director): “Ferrari had no chance in qualifying. The problems are due to the set-up. So far we haven’t managed to get a reasonable set-up on the Pro-Am car. In the race, Marco drove really great lap times despite Rinat’s contact with the enemy in the starting phase. But when you have to start from the back of the field, it’s difficult. We can definitely do better. We really need to work on the pace in qualifying. I will take the car apart and look at every single part. We will definitely look better in the coming events.”

Frank Schmickler (#458): “My start was okay. I deliberately took a little risk in the first laps and then worked my way forward bit by bit. We were already in front at the halfway point of my first stint, but then there was a small setback. A total of eight cars were given a drive-through penalty – of course, I was one of them. In second place I handed over the car to Alexander, who did a great job despite a heavy cold. It got exciting again at the end, but I was able to bring the thing home.”

Alexander Mattschull (#458): “With a fever of 39 degrees and almost zero knowledge of the track, I had to hold my own in the race, but somehow it worked. After taking over our car in second place, I was able to quickly get to grips with the track in the first few laps and pick up more and more pace. I drove a good rhythm and not only put our Ferrari in the lead, but also managed to build up a safe cushion of one minute. And what did it achieve? Unfortunately, not much. At my stop, I accidentally slid too far, which cost 40 seconds. Then the safety car came and the whole lead was gone. Fortunately, ‘Schmicki’ was able to save the lead with all his routine across the line.”