Another unlikely winner in GTE Pro class as Ferrari takes the spoils
Ferrari took an unlikely victory in the GTE Pro category at Silverstone, courtesy of reigning class champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, in a race won on strategy rather than outright pace.
Calado had been downbeat after he and Pier Guidi qualified the #51 488 GTE ninth out of 10 cars in class, some 1.3s off the pace of the pole-winning Ford GT. But some fortuitous timing of pitstops and stronger race pace allowed the pair to complete a Lazarus-like recovery and snatch a first win of the year for the Prancing Horse.
At first, it seemed it would be Ford’s race to lose. Despite Olivier Pla squandering his pole position by sailing wide at Turn 1 at the start, the two Ganassi-run GTS were one and two by the middle of the second hour, with Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell leading the charge.
But then two things happened that helped Ferrari and hindered Ford – the #51 machine snuck into the pits during the first full course yellow period, elevating it to second, and then shortly before the FCY, the #67 Ford pitted while all of its rivals got a free stop. By then, the #66 car had dropped out of contention as it had to have its left-side door replaced.
It meant that Pier Guidi was able to stroke it home for a comfortable 14-second win over the best of the Porsche 911 RSRS, the #91 car of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz, although the pair were later disqualified for a rideheight infraction.
That promoted Tincknell and Priaulx, who had fought their way back from fifth to third after their FCY misfortune, to second, while the second Porsche of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre moved up to the final podium spot.
Aston Martin showed much improved form in qualifying compared to Spa and Le Mans, starting second and third, but couldn’t look after their tyres in the race. The #97 shared by Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn was fourth, while the #95 car succumbed to gearbox issues.
In GTE Am, the TF Sport Aston squad had looked good for victory, thanks in no small part to the efforts of on-loan factory driver Jonny Adam, until it was handed a 75-second penalty for pitting under the safety car. That meant the #77 Proton Porsche of Matt Campbell, Christian Ried and Julien Andlauer took victory to the tune of 46 seconds.