Bentley Team HTP won its debut round of ADAC GT Masters at Oschersleben near Magdeburg. In front of more then 20,000 spectators, Bentley Team HTP made an impressive start in the series. The Continental GT3 of Luca Stolz (D) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (NL) won Sunday’s race, scoring a victory in the first appearance of the car and the team in the ADAC GT Masters series. Stolz and Bleekemolen had already claimed pole position for both season opening races, before building on their qualifying performance to take their maiden win.
At the same time, Bentley Team HTP continued preparations for the Nürburgring 24-hour race. In the last test race before the 24-hour in mid-May, Lance David Arnold (D), Christian Menzel (D) and Guy Smith (GB) finished fourth in the second round of the VLN championship.
Bentley wrote a small piece of ADAC GT Masters history at Oschersleben. During qualifying, Stolz and Bleekemolen claimed Pole Position for both races. For the first time in 120 ADAC GT Masters races, a car took a pole position on its debut weekend. In Sunday’s race, Bleekemolen made the best out of the Pole Position, but contact in the first corner cost the lead. The rapid Dutchman chased the leader, as did Stolz in the second part of the race. When the leader retired four laps before the end, Stolz took the lead and won. In Saturday’s first race Stolz/Bleekemolen finished 11th after an issue during the mandatory pit stop.
Fabian Hamprecht (D) and Clemens Schmid (A) also started with a strong performance in the second Bentley Continental GT3 campaigned by Bentley Team HTP. After starting from sixth into the first race on Saturday, Hamprecht took third position after the start. At the latter stages of the race, when Schmid was behind the wheel of the Bentley, it started to rain and in difficult track conditions, the Austrian went off-track and was forced to retire. This prevented Hamprecht and Schmid from taking part in Sunday’s round.
„I’m speechless“, said Bentley Team HTP Team principal Norbert Brückner after the success at Oschersleben. „We can’t have a better start into the ADAC GT Masters as with two Pole Positions and a first win for Bentley. Jeroen and Luca showed exceptional performance. They had to attack, but also resisted a lot of pressure from behind. Fabian and Clemens were also very quick, but were unlucky at the end. The team did a very impressive job this weekend, as we achieved great results with four cars at two different venues at the same time.“
Parallel to the opening round of the ADAC GT Masters, Bentley Team HTP entered two Continental GT3s in the second round of the VLN series. The aim of Arnold/Menzel/Smith and Harold Primat (CH)/Christopher Brück (D)/Marco Seefried (D) was the final preparation for the 24-hour race on 16/17 May. While Arnold/Menzel/Smith took fourth place, Primat/Brück/Seefried finished 13th.
Driver quotes:
Jeroen Bleekemolen: „It was the best way to start the season, I can’t get any better. We had a very good strategy and a perfectly timed pit stop. That enabled us to chase the leader until the end and keep him under pressure. Luca drove a brilliant stint and attacked, while he had also pressure from behind.“
Luca Stolz: „Jeroen was great during his stint and then the team performed a excellent pit stop, that kept us in the fight for the lead. I was quicker then the leading Corvette, but not quick enough to pass it. It wasn’t easy to attack and also defend my position, but I guess I did this quite well. I didn’t want to risk so much while being second and in the end it was enough to win.“
Fabian Hamprecht: „My stint in Saturday’s race was good and my lap times were very consistent. I could find a good rhythm. Unfortunately we had bad luck and retired a couple of minutes before the end of the race.”