Barcelona Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Dirk Bogaerts/SRO

***The results from Sunday’s Blancpain GT Series finale at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, along with the championship standings, remain provisional as Black Falcon appeals its disqualification from the event.

***The German team’s No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 was penalized for having tape inside the air intake, similar to how the No. 1 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT car lost pole at the Total 24 Hours of Spa in July.

***Provisionally, Raffaele Marciello has won all three drivers’ titles, in the Sprint Cup, Endurance Cup and combined classifications. AKKA ASP won the teams’ title in the combined and Endurance standings, while Belgian Audi Club Team WRT claimed Sprint Cup honors.

***Markus Winkelhock and Nyls Stievenart were crowned Pro-Am combined and Sprint Cup champions, along with their team Sainteloc Racing, while Lewis Williamson, Chris Buncombe and Nick Leventis took the class’ Endurance Cup title and Spirit of Race the teams’ title.

***Mikael Grenier, Adrian Zaugg and Alex Fontana claimed Silver Cup Endurance honors with a win in the Emil Frey Jaguar’s final race but AKKA ASP’s Nico Bastian and Jack Manchester are Silver Cup champions in the Sprint and combined standings.

***Barwell Motorsport drivers Leo Machitski and Adrian Amstutz are combined and Endurance Cup Am champions with the British operation claimed the teams’ titles too.

***Several cars’ grid positions changed after qualifying, although no announcement or stewards’ decisions were released. It included the No. 88 AKKA ASP Mercedes moving from fourth to sixth on the grid.

***Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz suffered a puncture during the race despite going on to initially win, it was revealed in the post-race press conference. 

***Lamborghini tested its 2019-spec Huracan GT3 Evo at Barcelona on Monday, after revealing the car at the Nürburgring two weeks ago.

***Sportscar365 has learned that Belgian Audi Club Team WRT and AKKA ASP will be present at the FIA GT Nations Cup in Bahrain on Nov. 30 – Dec. 1 and that official announcements are expected soon. Almost 25 cars are expected to enter the inaugural event, according to SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel.

***The GT4 support race at Bahrain has been renamed GT4 International Cup, with the FIA objecting to the initially-proposed ‘World Final’ moniker. Up to 30 cars could take part in the event.

***Numbers haven’t been as strong for the GT4 Sprint Cup Europe event at the Hockenheimring later this month, with 14 cars confirmed and only 18 expected in total. Ratel explained this is largely due to the single-driver format being less attractive for European GT4 teams.

***Ratel says he still “dreams” for an eventual split of GT3 and GT4 grids in the British GT Championship but that championship manager Benjamin Franassovici still prefers joint grids in the series for the moment.

***Several Blancpain GT teams will be back in action later this month at the California 8 Hours, including Bentley Team M-Sport, AKKA ASP and WRT. An entry list is still yet to be released but at least 30 cars are expected to be entered.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.