The first ever Blancpain Endurance Series race at Monza was a huge success with Italian team AutOrlando Sport, driven by Paolo Rubeti, taking the chequered flag in front of their home crowd. The Porsche only had to complete two stops, the their nearest rivals three, and this gave the team the advantage and Ruberti was joined by Gianluca Roda and Raffaele Gianmaria on the top step of the podium. THe second placed car was the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS of Stephane Ortelli, Bert Longin and Filipe Albuquerqe finished 58 second behind the Porsche but led the race before the splash and dash pitstop 10 laps from home. An early puncture also delayed the Audi but they fought back to claim a podium place in the first race of the season. The Marc VDS Ford GT of Bas Leinders, Maxime Martin and Markus Palttala was third.

The class winners were Marc A Hayek and Peter Kox in the Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini (GT3 Pro-Am Cup), with Hayek bringing the car home in 4th overall. Georges Cabannes and Gregory Guilvert were the GT3 Citiation Cup winners in the Ruffier Racing Lamborghini Gallardo and the GT4 Cup was won by the Lotus Italia team with Edoardo Piscopo, Leo Mansell and Greg Mansell holding off the challenge of the RJN Motorsport Nissan to claim the first GT4 Class win of the new series.

The 33 car field looked a magnificent sight in the Italian sunshine as they approach the start finish line for the rolling start and as the lights flashed to green over 16000 horsepower was unleashed as the grid powered down to the first corner with pole position holder Andrea Invernizzi, in the Black Bull Swiss Racing Ferrari being passed by several cars, with Andrea Piccini in the nr33 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 getting into the corner first. At the end of the first lap it was the Audi from the Marc VDS Ford of Markus Palttala and the nr4 Hexis Aston Martin of Henri Moser. However it was the nr3 Hexis Aston Martin of Yann Clairay that was on a charge, passing Moser’s Aston and then Palttala’s Ford in quick succession to take the fight to the leading Audi, which the Frenchman succeeded in doing on lap 4 at Turn 6.

Another driver on the move was Stephane Ortelli in the nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 and by lap 7 had moved into 2nd place ahead of his teammate to take the challenge to Clairay’s Aston Martin.

Further back in the GT4 battle the Lotus Evora of Edoardo Piscopo was having a battle for the class lead with the RJN Nissan of Jordan Tresson, and several swaaping of places ended with the Lotus getting the upper hand for a few laps.

On lap 11 the AF Corse Ferrari 458 and the nr 42 Sport Garage Ferrari 430 both ended up in the barriers at the Ascari Chicane thanks to some oil dropped on the track. On lap 23 the nr33 Audi suffered a puncture to the left rear tyre and had to limp back to the pits for fuel, tyres and driver change. Four laps later the same thing happened to their teammates, with Ortelli slowly returning to the pits to hand over to Bert Longin.

At this time the first round of pitstops began and once completed the nr20 SOFREV ASP Ferrari 458 was leading the race after a quick pitstop but it proved to be too quick as the car had to return to the pits again for a second stop and driver change.

Pierre-Brice Mena now led the race in the nr3 Hexis Aston Martin DBRS9 from the nr40 Marc VDS Ford of Bas Leinders and the nr1 Vita4One Ferrari. The Leinder’s Ford suffered the same fate as the Belgian Audi Club cars when a tyre blew out on lap 19 and had to return to the pits for a replacement promoting Nico Verdonck in the Vita4One Ferrari into second.

The second round of pitstops came round in the second hour and Mena’s leading Aston Martin could be seen to be struggling with grip, with smoke coming from the front of the car. On lap 54 he came into the pits but smoke started to billow from under the bonnet when a heat exchanger failed and the resulting fire had to be extinguished by the mechanics. The nr9 AutOrlando Porsche was now leading the race with Raffaele Gianmaria at the wheel until the car’s final stop on lap 63.

In the Pro-Am Cup Peter Kox had brought the Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini into 4th place and handed the car over to Marc A Hayek for the final stint in the class lead and 5th overall. In GT4 the nr70 Lotus was leading the class after a puncture had forced the RJN Nissan to head to the pits and the nr31 Ruffier Racing Lamborghini of Gregory Guilvert held a healthy lead in the GT3 Citation Cup over the nearest class rival.

Meanwhile back at the front of the field the nr 32 Audi was powering up the field, passing the Marc VDS Ford and reeling in the leading Porsche until Maxime Martin was able to take the lead on lap 75 on the run into T4. However the team’s joy was short lived as the Audi had to come in for a quick splash of fuel and to change the rear left tyre before rejoining the battle. The Marc VDS Ford GT had to complete the same manoeuvre on lap 81 leaving Paolo Ruberti with a healthy lead of over 1 minute in the AutOrlando Sport Porsche.

Fred Makowiecki, now at the controls of the nr4 Hexis Aston Martin was running well but disaster struck on lap 89 when the car went straight on at the Parabolica and hit the tyre wall, his race completed while lying in a podium finishing place. The AutOrlando Porsche maintained the healthy gap to the second placed Audi R8 and Paolo Ruberti held on to his advantage until the chequered flag was shown on lap 94.

The next round of the Blancpain Endurance Series will be held at Navarra in Northern Spain on Sunday 22 May 2011 with more cars expected to join the large grid.

1st Place – nr9 AutOrlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 R

Gianluca Roda : “I started and had a good start, and was third at the first corner. After that, I controlled the race as I knew that my competitors were very hard. I tried to give the car over in a good condition. A good job for me and I’m very happy.”

Raffaele Gianmaria : “My stint was quite good. At the exit of the pit lane I was P5. I tried to have a good speed but not to stress the tyres too much, because I saw that many cars had problems with tyres. It was important to go fast but not to push too much as fuel consumption was a big problem for the others but not for us. The tyres in the last 20 minutes of my stint were a big problem. I tried to arrive at the end of my stint in a good condition. Then Paolo did a good finish”

Paolo Ruberti : “My last stint was not pushing to the maximum as we knew that other cars would stop to do a splash and dash. I tried not to make any mistakes to get to the end and win. I am very happy, my team mates and team did a great job, the tyre change was very fast. Now we’ll have to see in the next race. I am really happy that we won in Italy, in front of friends and family. I like Monza, I did pole position in the FIA GT here a few years ago. I am very, very happy.”

2nd Place – nr32 Belgian Audi Club Audi R8 LMS

Stephane Ortelli : “Actually my start was not very good, but I knew we had a good car, with perhaps an extreme set-up but very fast, which may be why we had the puncture, we were at the maximum. But I really enjoyed it thanks to the reliability of the car, fighting for the win When I saw Felipe took the lead I was very happy. For Bert and myself it is also very special as we were team-mates before with Porsche and now we are back together and got our first podium together. Felipe is a newcomer and has a tough year with two programmes, so thanks for what he did today.”

Bert Longin : “There was no damage after the puncture – we were just a bit surprised with this puncture, but the set-up was very aggressive to find some speed.. When I took the car back from Stephane I saw p14 on the board so was a bit disappointed. But I set a pace where I could move up to around 5th. The stint was good, with no mistakes, so I could hand over the car in a good shape, and what he did was great. I am very glad that Audi selected me to drive with these two guys, who are very good, very quick, good guys, so I am very happy today, and I hope we can continue like this. For the Total 24 Hours of Spa it will be very important. It was a very nice race with no incidents.”

Felipe Albuquerque : I enjoyed it a lot and was impressed with the pace of these two guys. Stephane came from the back and did a good job and bErt climbed up from p14. We had to adapt the driving style, but didn’t want to have th same as before. Unfortunately we had to do another pit stop. But we couldn’t be happier than this. For my first endurance race, I have a lot to learn from these two fast drivers. We have to congratulate the team, it’s really demanding for two men to change four drivers along is really a big job. This tastes like a victory after all we’ve been through. With three pit stops and a splash and dash it was a lot of work. I’ve never driven in Navarra, but I’m not worried about it, I adapt quickly.”

3rd Place – nr 40 Marc VDS Racing Team Ford GT

Markus Palttala : “It’s good to be back on the podium. It was really a good race for us, we also blew out one tyre, so to finish third is almost like a victory for us. It was a really great ending from Max. The traffic was not too bad, everyone was driving fairly. We were defending, fighting, but not a single touch. It’s a bit tricky with the GT4 cars, but it is part of the game and I enjoyed it.”

Bas Leinders :” I had the tyre that blew at the left front after just 20 minutes which was quite surprising. I think maybe a slow puncture as it started to pull to the left a few laps before while braking, which was rather a strange feeling. Then it blew, which was quite surprising, but I managed to continue to the pits. Some cooling ducts were damaged, but I had one new and three used tyres so the balance was a bit awkward. I am personally very happy with third place, and especially happy with the kind of racing we saw today. It was all very fair and sporting, really good fun, and a good show, so I would like to congratulate Stephane Ratel and SRO for this wonderful concept.”

Maxime Martin : “It is completely different from GT1 and GT3; we have to manage a car for three hours, and a lot longer, with 24 at Spa. It’s more difficult than in GT1 but we have to thank the team who did very a very good job – this podium is for them. As for Navarra, we’ll see how it goes but I think it will be even better there.”

Winner GT3 Pro-Am Cup – nr24 Blancpain-Reiter Lamborghini LP560

Marc A Hayak : “It was fantastic. I think at the beginning they told me not to overdo it, it was a long race. I’d like to thank the team, the car was great, the pit stop was great, and the racing was great – very fair. It was really perfect. I’m more than happy to finish fourth and first in category. It is great to see the success of the new Blancpain Endurance Series, it’s great sport and a great concept. I am very happy with the organization, fantastic to be part of it.”

Peter Kox : “It’s never easy, but it was a fantastic day for us. The Reiter Lamborghini performed really well. We wanted to get away with points, and to get a win was fantastic. This was Marc’s GT3 second win, but the difference is that in Spa he drove the least, and today he drove the most. Navarra suits the Lamborghini better than this circuit; we outdid our expectations this time, but we should be even better in Navarra.”

Winner GT3 Citation Cup – nr31 Ruffier Racing Lamborghini Gallardo

Georges Cabanne : “The start was a bit hot, but I made no mistakes – this was a great win.”

Grégory Guilvert : ” I would like to congratulate the whole Ruffier team – it’s an old car but a good one, we made no mistakes and won the class. Georges knows Navarra, but I don’t know it yet.”

Winner GT4 Cup: Lotus Italia Lotus Evora GT4

Eduardo Piscopo: “We had a good start, and I enjoyed the first laps fighting with the Nissan. He was faster in a straight line, and I could catch up on braking. Then he started struggling with tyres, and I started pulling away, and handed over a good car. I am really happy for Lotus and Scuderia Guidici. We were focused on our race and didn’t bother with the GT3 cars. It’s a really nice category, and I really enjoyed being here. “

Leo Mansell : “We had a great battle with the Nissan, all three of us, fighting all through the race . The car was great all weekend, we struggled a bit with tyres, but all did around here. Lotus did an amazing job, giving us a very reliable car. It was a typical sprint endurance race – keep out of trouble and get to the finish. I am very happy for the team and everyone. Fingers crossed we can keep it going through the year.”

Greg Mansell : “It was really good for the first two laps, the Nissan and I swapped four times. Then unfortunately we came together, touched at the Parabolica. Damaged the front left of my car and he got damage too, so then it was trying to survive. But the Lotus held together and we got to the end. It’s a tribute to the series how competitive it was. We all drove 100% through the race. The car held together and it was touch and go until the end. I really enjoyed it.”

Source : Blancpain Endurance Series