19
May 2016
Class win at Silverstone
The Rinaldi Racing squad returns from the Blancpain GT Series guest round at Silverstone in the UK with a victory.
Thanks to a faultless performance, the two Rinaldi drivers Pierre Ehret and Stef Vancampenhoudt in the Ferrari 488 GT3 secured first place in the AM classification. Their teammates, on the other hand, suffered a setback in the Endurance Cup round.
“Not an easy weekend for us,” summed up team boss Michele Rinaldi. “I am very happy about the victory of Stef and Pierre, who deserved this success so much. Both of them have continuously improved over the weekend. Unfortunately, we weren’t quite so lucky with our two Ferrari 458 Italia GT3s entered.”
Daniel Keilwitz, Alexander Mattschull and Steve Parrow finished 36th overall. After their podium success at the season opener in Monza, the trio had a much tougher time at Silverstone. In the Pro-Am classification, the three Ferrari drivers only finished 13th.
The three-hour race came to an early end for Rinat Salikhov, Marco Seefried and Norbert Siedler. Starting from 32nd on the grid, Seefried steadily worked his way forward in the early stages. However, the chase of the Ferrari with start number 333 came to an abrupt end in 19th place due to a technical problem. “The servo pump of our car stopped working, which is why we had to park the car,” explained Seefried. The only consolation for the well-rehearsed trio: once again, the car entered by Rinaldi Racing was the fastest Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 in the field.
Before Rinaldi Racing continues in the Blancpain GT Series, there will be a short break. The next round of the Endurance Cup will take place on 24-25 June at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet. The “1000 kilometre race” in the south of France lasts six hours and is one of the highlights of the racing calendar.