At the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone in the UK, Rinaldi Racing held its ground with a strong performance.

After the great overall victory in Monza, the green Ferrari 458 Italia crossed the finish line in seventh place. In a strong field of competitors, the drivers Marco Seefried, Rinat Salikhov and Norbert Siedler prevailed against numerous rivals on the traditional 5.9-kilometre track.

Rinaldi Racing celebrated a terrific start even before the race. With a strong second place in qualifying, the likeable team from Mendig placed itself on the front row of the grid and had another trump up its sleeve for the race. “We did everything right,” reported Marco Seefried. “The car was perfectly prepared, we waited until the end with the new tyres and then had another very fresh set for the race.”

With a good start, Marco Seefried was able to stay in the leading group and drove an energetic first stint. After a yellow period, the 39-year-old was able to catch up to the second position and finally took the lead in a spirited overtaking manoeuvre. “After the full-course yellow in the first third of the race, I was able to increase the pressure once again,” Seefried explained. “At the pit stop and driver change after my first stint, I was able to hand the car over to Rinat in the lead.” The Russian Rinat Salikhov proved his consistency in the following phase of the race and confidently kept up with the top-10 with good lap times. He finally handed over what was by far the best Ferrari in the field to Norbert Siedler. The Austrian convinced with a recovery in the last third of the race and was able to finish the race in seventh place after 84 laps. “The pit strategy was one of the deciding factors for the win today,” described Norbert Siedler. “Marco had a fantastic first stint. Our brand colleagues, of all people, blocked me when I was lapping and so the Bentley and the McLaren were able to slip past me. All in all, we had good speed despite the new BoP and we’re happy.”

“Mission accomplished!” said a delighted Team Principal Michele Rinaldi after the race, adding, “We wanted to be in the top-10 and we achieved that. We knew we wouldn’t have it easy with the change in balance-of-performance. We brought out the best and all three guys did a great job. Rinat was again able to convince with his terrific performance, consistency is his strength. The sister car also did well again. Steve Parrow once again put in a solid performance.”

For all sports car fans, the Eurosport channel will show all the highlights of the exciting race on the British Isle in a one-hour summary on Tuesday (26 May) at 23:30. For the team around Michele Rinaldi, there are only two weeks left until the next event is on the agenda. The Blancpain Sprint Series will be held in Zolder, Belgium, from 5 to 7 June for its third round. Team boss Rinaldi is full of fights: “We are in great shape and will attack again in Zolder.