Endurance Blancpain :SILVERSTONE : UNE LISTE DES ENGAGÉS QUI FAIT DANS LE MUST DU MUST.

Après Monza, la Blancpain Endurance Series se rend à Silverstone pour le deuxième rendez-vous de la saison où une fois de plus la série jouera à guichets fermés. Pas moins de 60 GT3 sont attendues dans le Northamptonshire avec 20 Pro-Cup, 26 Pro-Am Cup et 14 Gentlemen Trophy. Vainqueur sur ses terres en Italie, la Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 du Kessel Racing voudra faire la passe de deux mais la concurrence s'est renforcée, à commencer par l'arrivée d'une Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 officielle alignée directement par Aston Martin Racing et confiée aux experts Fred Mako, Darren Turner et Stefan Mücke. A Gaydon on veut briller à domicile. On notera que la V12 Vantage/Emil Frey Young Driver est absente du meeting britannique. Annoncé pour être finalement absent à Monza, le Fortec Motorsport sera bien de la partie avec une seule Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 piloté notamment Ben Hetherington, présent au sein de l'équipe en British GT et très en verve le week-end dernier sur ce même tracé de Silverstone. Indisponible le mois dernier, Olivier Pla fait son come-back sur la Porsche 911 GT3-R engagée par le team de Philippe Gache.

Deux équipes présentes à l'année en Pro-Am Cup seront absentes en Angleterre avec Haribo Racing Team et Kessel Racing. Duncan Tappy passe du baquet d'une McLaren à celui d'une Mercedes du Black Falcon. Tout juste auréolé d'une victoire aux 24 Heures du Nürburgring, le team allemand fera rouler deux autos. Sur la BMW Z4 GT3 du ROAL Motorsport, Thomas Biagi fait son arrivée aux côtés de Stefano Comandini et Michela Cerruti. Le double Champion FIA-GT revient à la charge au volant d'une GT après avoir décroché la couronne Italian GT en 2012. Deux teams britanniques viendront renforcer le plateau avec Barwell Motorsport (Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3) et Trackspeed Racing (Porsche 911 GT3-R).

La classe Gentlemen Trophy grossit elle aussi pour passer à 14 unités. Fort d'une belle victoire à Monza, le Team SOFREV-ASP fera figure de favori avec sa Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 partagée par Jean-Luc Beaubelique, Jean-Luc Blanchemain et Patrice Goueslard. Il faudra toutefois se méfier d'une autre 458 Italia, en l'occurrence celle d'AF Corse de Barreiros/Guedes. Avant de participer à la Journée Test des 24 Heures du Mans, le trio Blank/Bachelier/Mallegol vient se rôder une nouvelle fois aux courses d'endurance. John Gaw, team principal AMR, sera quant à lui sur l'Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3/PGF-Kinfaun AMR en compagnie de Phil Dryburgh.

Stéphane Ratel, Président de SRO, se réjouit de réunir ce plateau : "Nous avons une fois encore une grille exceptionnelle ce week-end à Silverstone, comprenant d'excellents ajouts à notre liste record d'engagés à la saison cette année. La diversité pure de la grille prouve à quel point les courses de GT3 se portent bien en ce moment. Les Blancpain Endurance Series rassemblent des voitures de rêves et des pilotes d'endurance parmi les meilleurs de la planète afin de créer un magnifique spectacle. Les fans Britanniques vont vraiment pouvoir en profiter ce week-end."

Le meeting se déroulera sur deux jours. Les Bronze seront les premiers à prendre la piste samedi matin de 9h à 10h avant deux séances d'essais libres, la première de 11h à 12h30 et la seconde de 16h35 à 17h50. Les qualifications se tiendront dimanche de 9h à 10h, le départ étant donné à 14h50 (15h50 en France). Les GT3 ne seront pas les seules en piste à Silverstone puisque l'on retrouvera également le Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo, l'Auto GP et la Formule Renault 2.0 NEC.

Laurent Mercier(Endurance-Info)

Pro-Cup (20)
1	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Ortelli-Vanthoor-Rast
2	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Frey-Halliday-Mayr Melnhof
3	Marc VDS Racing Team	BMW Z4 GT3	Leinders-Martin-Buurman
4	Marc VDS Racing Team	BMW Z4 GT3	Moser-Palttala-Catsburg
6	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Jarvis-Haase-Primat
7	Hexis Racing	McLaren MP4-12C	Parente-Sims-Dusseldorp
11	ART Grand Prix	McLaren MP4-12C	Leclerc-Parisy-Soucek
13	Belgian Audi Club Team WRT	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Stippler-Sandström-Mies
16	Phoenix Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Ide-Kumpen-Winkelhock
23	JRM Racing	Nissan GT-R GT3	Luhr-Dumbreck-Kane
26	Vita4One Racing Team	BMW Z4 GT3	Kechele-Franchi-Colombo
44	Kessel Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Zampieri-Ramos-Rigon
57	Vita4One Team Italy	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Amos-Petrobelli-Castellacci
62	Fortec Motorsport	Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	Hetherington
69	Gulf Racing UK	McLaren MP4-12C	Bell-Verdonck-Carroll
70	SMP Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Basov-Pier Guidi-Skryabin
71	SMP Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Ladygin-Markosov-Shaitar
75	ProSpeed Competition	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Hennerici-Maassen-Soulet
83	SMG Challenge	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Pla-Armindo-Clément
97	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Makowiecki-Turner-Mücke
Pro-Am Cup (26)
5	Boutsen Ginion Racing	McLaren MP4-12C	Dermont-Wauters-Vervisch
9	Gulf Racing UK	McLaren MP4-12C	Wainwright-Meyrick
12	ART Grand Prix	McLaren MP4-12C	Demoustier-Vannelet-Goudy
17	Insight Racing with Flex-Box	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Jensen-Andersen
18	Black Falcon	Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	Hummel-Jans-Christodoulou
19	Black Falcon	Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	Morley-Lebed-Tappy
24	Blancpain Reiter	Lamborghini Gallardo FL2	Kox-Hayek
25	TDS Racing	BMW Z4 GT3	Badey-Hassid
32	Nissan Academy Team RJN	Nissan GT-R GT3	Shulzhitskiy-Doherty-Reip
34	Pro GT by Alméras	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Dermont-Perera
35	Nissan GT Academy Team RJN	Nissan GT-R GT3	Ordonez-Pyzera-Buncombe
42	Saintéloc Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Hallyday-Monti-Latinne
43	ROAL Motorsport	BMW Z4 GT3	Biagi-Comandini-Cerutti
50	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Hommerson-Machiels-Bertolini
54	Mtech Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Rattenbury-Jelley-Danyliw
72	SMP Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Zlobin-Mediani-Rotenberg
73	SMP Racing	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Frolov-Persiani-Evsitgneev
77	MRS	McLaren MP4-12C	Kray-Younessi-Gini
78	Grasser Racing Team	Lamborghini Gallardo	Grasser-Proczyk-Tweraser
88	Von Ryan Racing	McLaren MP4-12C	Price-Barff-Grogor
99	Beechedean AMR	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Howard-Adam-McKenzie
123	Team Ukraine	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Kruglik-Giammaria-Tsyplakov
133	Trackspeed Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Minshaw
180	Barwell Motorsport	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Osborne-Abra-Poole
230	JRM Racing	Nissan GT-R GT3	Al Masaood-Bell-Bateman
48	ProSpeed Competition (TBC)	Porsche 911 GT3-R	TBA-TBA-TBA

Gentlemen Trophy (14)
10	Team SOFREV-ASP	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Balthazard-Ricci-Policand
15	Boutsen Ginion Racing	McLaren MP4-12C	Ojjeh-Broggi-TBC
20	Team SOFREV-ASP	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Beaubelique-Goueslard-Blanchemain
22	Preci-Spark	Mercedes SLS AMG GT3	Jones-Jones-Jones
33	Pro GT by Alméras	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Blugeon-Armingol-Giauque
41	Saintéloc Racing	Audi R8 LMS ultra	Hirschi-Sourd-Gosselin
49	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Mallegol-Bachelier-Blank
51	AF Corse	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Barreiros-Guedes
52	Sport Garage	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Stepec-Comole-Prignaud
53	Sport Garage	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Cabannes-Gorinni-Brandela
55	Mtech	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Taraborelli-Chahwan-Josephsohn
58	Delahaye Racing	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Kelders-Desbruères
66	ARC Bratislava	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Al Harthy-Konopka
98	PGF-Kinfaun AMR	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	Gaw-Dryburgh

GP : Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi hope for better luck at Mugello

from Twowheelsblog

Yamaha’s factory team is preparing for the fifth round of the season at Mugello, especially after their highly disappointing Le Mans round.

Both Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will have to deliver top notch performances at the Italian circuit if they want to stop the devilish Repsol Honda duo that has won three out of four races so far.

The Le Mans race cost Lorenzo very dearly as he dropped to third and is seventeen points adrift in the standings from Dani Pedrosa, who actually turned his season around last year after receiving in advance a 2013 frame and spec engine - to counter the chatter that the RC213V had after the introduction of extra weight and the new front tire - that he tested at Mugello last year, which then allowed him to claim six of the final eight victories last season.

“I’m looking forward to visiting Mugello after suffering a very disappointing weekend at Le Mans. It was a tough race for us and I want to recover points at Mugello, a good track for me. I like the circuit a lot because of its layout, plenty of long and high-speed corners. I have a lot of good memories there and I would like to make a positive weekend. 

I think also for Yamaha it is a good place to get the best performance. The circuit is amazing to ride and also the temperature is quite warm, as well as Jerez. The crowd is also very passionate there.

 The only weak point for us is the long straight, where maybe our rivals are stronger than us, but in general the track is very suitable for our bike. I can`t wait to go to Italy and find the pace. We need to cut away the gap to the front but anyway, the Championship is long so we have to be calm,” said Lorenzo, who is beginning to show some slight cracks in his politically correct persona.

It has been three years since Valentino Rossi has stepped on the podium at Mugello, a race track that was once ‘his,’ something like Casey Stoner at Phillip Island. Rossi is still asking for time, but time doesn’t wait for anyone, something the Italian should know by now especially with three front runners like Pedrosa, Marquez and Lorenzo and we’ll also add Cal Crutchlow to the mix, and wishing for a podium no longer cuts it.

“I am very happy that we go to Mugello. I love this track and I’m really happy to go back there with Yamaha. This is a track that I really like and a good result is important. Unfortunately we are still not fast enough so we need to improve, especially in dry conditions. We must work hard and improve the bike. The Mugello race will be difficult, but we will try to do everything to get the best result. A podium would be really nice. I believe that there will be many people at Mugello so I’m happy and the heat in Mugello is always good!” said Rossi.

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SBK Donington: here come the Paddock Girls

from Twowheelsblog

Here is our usual collection of pictures starring some of the nice ladies who attended the latest World Superbike round in Donington, UK. While on the track ‘Mr.Superpole’ Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) turned out to be the absolute ruler of the weekend, away from it we could enjoy a whole lot of English roses cheering us all up.

This year their job has been way easier as the bad weather did not get in the way, and we can only hope to be that lucky once back in Britain for the Silverstone round, which will take place in August. So fingers crossed for that - we surely wouldn’t like to see these lovely ladies covered with too much clothing next time - but in the meanwhile you can always enjoy our nice photo gallery.

By the way, you might want to grab a beer or two before watching it as we have no less than 80 pictures here (one of the biggest ones we’ve had so far): it may take you some time to get through them all..