Tyre strategy proves crucial to GRT Grasser win at Silverstone in round two of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup

GRT Grasser Racing wins the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone

Pirelli supported the second round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone, supplying the latest P Zero DHD tyres, and it was GRT Grasser Racing who finished on top in an incredibly competitive race. Tyre strategy proved crucial for GRT Grasser Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Andrea Caldarelli, Christian Engelhart and Mirko Bortolotti who started the race from second spot on the grid. Out of their allocated four new sets, they used one for qualifying leaving three for the three-hour endurance race. The typically variable British weather was warm and dry, with 24 degrees of track temperature and 18 degrees ambient on average during the race. Pirelli also supplied tyres to the Blancpain Sports Club grid and Jon Minshaw of Barwell Motorsport took victory in the main race. This weekend also featured the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, again fully supplied by Pirelli with P Zero tyres specifically created for one of the world’s fastest one-make GT series. Imperiale Racing took top spot in race one and two. In total Pirelli supplied over 3,000 P Zero tyres to over 100 cars.

GRT Grasser Racing wins the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup at Silverstone	Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup podium

Quotes: Matteo Braga (Pirelli circuit activity manager): “Qualifying started with a damp track which dried towards the end of the session, this meant teams saved new sets for the race. During the race we experienced unusual British weather, as it stayed dry and the teams focused on consistency and strategy, which was pivotal in GRT Grasser winning the race. The last stint between the Lamborghini and Mercedes showed good Balance of Performance for the different brands and the teams were able to get the best out of our product until the very last lap.” Chris Harris (BBC Top Gear presenter racing for Garage59 this weekend in a McLaren 650 S GT3): “The new Pirelli tyre is impressive, it gives you that two laps of superhero qualifying pace but the degradation is very very sensible. Yesterday I was running on tyres that had done 240 kilometers and the pace was good, I think Pirelli has done a great job developing a tyre for so many different platforms and types of cars, which is a real challenge.” Numbers of the day: 670 and 90,921. The number of minutes and the total number of kilometres Pirelli tyres were used on track this weekend at Silverstone.

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