The third round of this year’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup took teams and drivers to the beautiful Circuit Paul Ricard at Le Castellet in the south of France for the annual 1000km race, the second-longest race on the series’ calendar. For many drivers, the event, held on Saturday evening from 6 pm till midnight, serves as a dress rehearsal for the season highlight, the Spa 24 Hours at the end of July. Dutch driver, Max Koebolt, also used the race to acquire valuable experience in preparation for the big race at Spa. “You don’t get an opportunity to race in the dark very often,” he says. “For instance, last year, I only drove one stint at Spa in the evening, and most of that was behind the safety car, so that wasn’t particularly helpful. Therefore, the mileage I was able to get at Paul Ricard now was quite important.” Driving the BMW M6 GT3 under the BMW Team Italia banner, run by ROAL Motorsport, Koebolt and his Italian team-mates Giorgio Roda and Stefano Colombo were classified 30^th overall and twelfth in the Pro-Am Cup. “However, the fact that we were able to do a lot of running and that we were able to improve the set-up and the handling of the car in a significant way was even more important than the actual race result,” says Koebolt.

The weekend started quite positively for the team with the tenth-fastest time of the 39 teams that competed in the ‘bronze test’. “However, we found out that we were having more problems with the handling and the set-up of the car as the temperatures of the track increased, something that naturally happens at this time of year in the south of France,” Koebolt reports. “As a result, we were not really happy with the performance we had in the free practice sessions. We felt that we were going into the wrong direction with the set-up. For qualifying, however, we found a good solution that proved to be quite effective. Perhaps not immediately visible in terms of lap times, but definitely in the handling of the car. I felt it, and so did my team-mates!”

Having been held up by traffic on his flying lap, one of Koebolt’s team-mates lost valuable time in qualifying. “It probably was only four tenths of a second, but in a field like the Blancpain GT Series, where the gaps are so small, that means that you are automatically ten or 15 places further down the ranks, if not more,” Koebolt explains. As a result, the BMW with starting number 15 qualified in 44^th place.

In the race, things went pretty well. Giorgio Roda drove the first stint in the car and was able to make up some places straight away. Max Koebolt did the second stint and managed to make even more progress, even though 25 minutes of his stint were spent driving under ‘full course yellow’ conditions. “And we also had an issue with a limiter that was set at a speed that was too low. Later on, we lost more time due to a puncture and a sensor in the engine that didn’t work properly, so it wasn’t a trouble-free race, but we were able to put in a lot of mileage and gain plenty of valuable experience, and that was the main thing,” Koebolt said.

Next up is the official test day for the Spa 24 Hours on Tuesday next week. The race at Spa takes place on the final weekend of July. “Something I am looking forward to very much. Last year, my team retired early, so I still have unfinished business there!”