Brands Hatch Sunday Notebook

***The Brands Hatch meeting holds mixed emotions for reigning Blancpain Sprint champion Maxi Buhk. He finished second the first time a Sprint round was held on the 3.916km-long circuit in 2014, but last year he suffered a heavy shunt in Paddock Hill corner during the first free practice session. The damage to his HTP Bentley meant that Buhk’s weekend was over.

***The same could be said of Laurens Vanthoor. Although he claimed the grand slam of securing pole and victories in both the Qualifying and Main Races last season, the Belgian had a big shunt in the second practice session. He later described the crash as one of the biggest in his career.

***Former BMW Team Brasil stalwart Sérgio Jimenez is making his first Sprint Cup appearance of the year this weekend. Jiminez will race alongside his protégé and fellow Brazilian Rodrigo Baptista in the No. 3 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS. Filipe Albuquerque replaced him in the opening round at Misano.

***Following a drive-through penalty in the Qualifying Race for making contact with the Garage 59 McLaren of Rob Bell, overall Blancpain GT points’ leaders Maxi Buhk and Dominik Baumann will have to fight back from eighteenth on the grid in the Main Race.

***The No. 8 M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 of Maxime Soulet and Andy Soucek charged from 24th on the grid to P10 in the Qualifying Race, even beating the sister No. 7 car that started from P13. A key element in this performance was the fastest pitstop time of the field, as the M-Sport crew managed to change all four tires in 42.847 seconds.

***Michael Broniszewski dominated the second round of the Blancpain GT Sports Club this weekend. The Polish driver claimed pole and won both the Qualifying Race and Main Race in the No. 11 Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. Karim Ojjeh brought the Boutsen Ginion Racing BMW M6 GT3 home in second, while Patrick Van Glabeke completed the podium in an AF Corse Ferrari GT3 on Sunday afternoon.

***All qualifying sessions and races will continue to be streamed live on the series’ official website, www.blancpain-gt-series.com, while U.S. viewers can watch live coverage on Motor Trend on Demand.

***North American viewers can watch same-day coverage of the event on CBS Sports Network, with a two-hour broadcast on Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. ET. Eurosport will carry coverage of Sunday’s action on Monday at 8:45 a.m. UK time.

***Be sure to download the official SRO Spotter Guide, which features all 37 starters for today’s races, including all the liveries and lineups. Click here to download the latest version.

***Click here to download the complete grid for today’s Main Race.