Connect with us

BES

51 Entries for Blancpain 1000 Nürburgring Title Decider

51-car entry for Blancpain Endurance Series season finale in Germany…

Photo: VIMAGES/Fabre

Photo: VIMAGES/Fabre

The Blancpain Endurance Series season finale will see an entry of 51 GT3 cars racing in the Blancpain 1000 this weekend. The 1,000 km or 6-hour race at the Nürburgring in Germany is set to become an absolute thriller with teams in both Pro Cup and Pro-Am Cup separated by only a couple of points.

ENTRY LIST: Click Here

In the Pro Cup Kessel Racing drivers Cesar Ramos, Davide Rigon and Daniele Zampieri are currently leading the championship with 50 points, but with 33 points available for the win and the top four in the Pro Cup separated by just three points anything can happen in the German Eifel region. Bernd Schneider and Maximilian Götz will join second placed Maximilian Buhk again in the Total 24 Hours of Spa winning Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 entered by HTP Motorsport.

Belgian Audi Club Team WRT drivers Frank Stippler and Christopher Mies are two points behind Ramos, Rigon and Zampieri with Marc VDS Racing Team drivers Bas Leinders, Yelmer Buurman and Maxime Martin hot on their heels. Martin was scheduled to race in the American Le Mans Series this weekend but he was cleared by BMW Motorsport to fight for the title in the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Marc VDS Racing Team is also leading the Blancpain Endurance Series Teams Championship, just eight points clear of arch rivals Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. Kessel Racing is third, 15 points behind the BMW team. Given the small margins none of the top teams can make a mistake and losing a position on track could lead to losing the championship.

Nissan will bring Kazuki Hoshino to Germany as part of the Nismo Global Driver Exchange, whilst Emil Frey Racing will race its Jaguar XK again after shunting their Aston Martin Vantage at the Total 24 Hours of Spa.

In the Pro-Am class Lucas Ordonez is the current championship leader, the Spaniard four points clear of teammate Peter Pyzera and ten points clear of Alex Buncombe, who will be joined by quick British driver Jann Mardenborough this weekend. Reigning champions Niek Hommerson and Louis Machiels are 11 points behind Ordonez heading into the season finale. Their regular teammate Andrea Bertolini has a clashing commitment this weekend and the duo will be joined by Fabio Babini in the AF Corse Ferrari.

Nissan GT Academy Team RJN and AF Corse will go head-to-head once again in the Pro-Am Cup Teams Championship with a single point separating them at the moment.

A number of teams have elected to sit out the season finale, but the German round will also see a number of new teams. French squad Chab Evolution will enter a BMW Z4, German team GT Corse will run a Ferrari and Esta Motorsport returns to an SRO event with a Ferrari 458 Italia.

Marcel ten Caat (@marceltencaat) is a contributor to Sportscar365 and other publications including Autosport.nl.

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in BES