Blancpain Endurance Cup - Two Ferrari crews looking for a title

Barcelona - The Blancpain GT 2018 Championship concludes this weekend with the Endurance Cup. Several titles have already been decided, but the Endurance Pro-Am Cup is still up for grabs with two Ferrari crews in a position to win if they put in a great performance.

Chase. Going into the final round, Lewis Williamson, Chris Buncombe and Nick Leventis lead with the Mercedes of Strakka Racing, 13 points ahead of Duncan Cameron and Lorenzo Bontempelli for Spirit of Race in Ferrari no. 51. Alexander Mattschull and Rinat Salikhov are 14 points behind in third, back in the running after their win at the 24 Hours of Spa. To turn the tables either of the two Ferrari crews needs to win the race and hope that the Strakka Racing crew fail to finish on the podium. However, in the event of a very poor day for the leaders, even a podium place may suffice. Matt Griffin will join Cameron and Bontempelli in car no. 51, while Luca Ludwig, the son of Klaus, a great driver of the eighties and nineties, will be in the 333 of Rinaldi Racing.

Teams’ cup. The teams are in a different situation. Indeed, Spirit of Race, with two cars in play, has topped the standings so far. They hold a lead of five points over Strakka Racing and 19 points over Rinaldi Racing. The second Spirit of Race car will as usual be crewed by Andrea Bertolini, Niek Hommerson and Louis Machiels.

Pro class. The Ferrari 488 GT3 of SMP Racing will be in the overall class as usual. The familiar trio of Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina and Mikhail Aleshin will be at the wheel. A win would be some recompense to the drivers and teams for all the bad luck they have suffered so far in 2018.

Am Cup. A Ferrari 488 GT3 is also racing in the Am Cup. The no. 488 of Rick Yoon, Pierre Ehret and Rory Penttinen currently lies third in the championship standings. Qualifying is scheduled for 9 am on Sunday with the race starting at 3 pm.