Germany’s Black Falcon dominated Pre-Qualifying by topping the time sheets in both PRO and PRO-AM classes in the fifth round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Nürburgring. The No.18 Mercedes SLS AMG of Congfu Cheng (CHN), Mike Parisy (FRA) and Jeroen Bleekemolen (NLD) was the fastest of the PRO runners with a best lap time of 1:57.952. It was a change of fortunes for Bleekemolen who earlier in the day crashed heavily at the Schumacher S in the Reiter Lamborghini in the FIA GT1 World Championship Qualifying Race. The Dutchman is sharing the Lamborghini with Parisy besides linking together in the Blancpain Endurance Series.
Parisy was pleased to contribute to a solid overall team performance. “The team did a fantastic job because we have the two fastest cars in the Blancpain,” he said. “We have a good package of performance with our three drivers, so we have the potential to have a very strong race in Germany. Today was a good start to the weekend.”
The No.19 Black Falcon PRO-AM Mercedes of Oliver Morley (GBR), Steve Jans (LUX) and Sean Edwards (GBR) were second fastest overall with a best lap set by Edwards of 1:57.998.
Third overall and second in PRO was theVita4One Racing Team BMW Z4 No.66 of Germany’s Frank Kechele, Mathias Lauda (AUT) and the 2011 drivers’ champion Greg Franchi of Belgium.
The championship leaders Belgians Bas Leinders and Maxime Martin and Finland’s Markus Palttala were fourth in class with a time of 1:59.157 as they struggled to find an optimum balance.
“In the first session we ran with quite old tyres and it was difficult to find a balance. We didn’t know how much it was down to tyres or from the car itself,” Palttala said. “We all did our different things, I did the aero check from which we gained something, then Maxime did a Qualifying run with new tyres and in the end Bas evaluated a longer run and looking at the tyre wear. All those runs were good and we learned from all of them. So now we need to put all the data and hope we can find some pace. It’s still quite a gap to the front for us. We are here for the Championship fight so we need to maximize the race efficiency and try to score as many points as possible. It’s going to be a tough race for us, Mercedes is quick, Audi is a bit quicker and so is the Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren. So it will be tight.”
Valentino Rossi, the nine-time world motorcycle champion, is making his second appearance in the series at Nürburgring after featuring in the opening round at Monza.
“El Dottore” is sharing a Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia with fellow Italians Alessio Salucci and Andrea Ceccato. The trio were in 15th place overall and 10th in PRO-AM with a best lap of 1:59.444. “I’m very happy to be back again in the Blancpain Endurance Series,” Rossi said. “We enjoyed a lot our previous race in Monza but we were a little unlucky in rain conditions. After that experience we will try again in Nurburgring. With myself and Alessio Salucci (Uccio) we have Andrea Ceccato this time as a part of our three drivers team. Kessel Racing is making a big effort for us and we just want to enjoy the weekend with them.”
The Swedish JB Motorsport trio of Jan Brunstedt, Mikael Bender and Daniel Bender led the way in the Gentlemen Trophy class with a quickest lap of 2:03.330.
Tomorrow’s Qualifying starts at 09:5 with the Race timed for 14:30.
Source : Blancpain Endurance Series