Bentley Motorsport has out-performed its second year target for the Nürburgring 24 Hours by finishing well inside the top-ten with a seventh place result by the #38 Continental GT3 of European partner team Bentley Team Abt.
The yellow #38 Deutsche Post-liveried Continental GT3 was the highest finishing British entry in the gruelling 24-hour endurance race, and beat all but two manufacturers, including many German marques that consider the 25 km track their home.
Drivers Guy Smith (GB), Fabien Hamprecht (DE), Christian Menzel (DE) and Chris Brück (DE) completed 131 laps of the Nürburgring Nordschleife to cross the line ahead of more than 150 cars.
“Success at the Nürburgring 24 hours requires at least a three-year plan and we’re pleased that at the end of year two we’re ahead of our target,”commented Bentely’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush. “We set out to get a top ten finish, yet we were close to getting inside the top five. It’s an extremely tough race and we’re proud to have both cars cross the line. We’ve learnt a great deal and we’ll be back next year with more data and more experience.”
Exceptionally challenging conditions included rain heavy enough to cause a red flag, hail that halted cars on Arenberg, and fog patches throughout the Eifel Forest. Despite the weather, the #37 Continental GT3 of Steven Kane (GB), Marco Holzer (DE), Christer Jöns (DE) and Chris Brück (DE) showed its strength and pushed hard to climb from 106th to end the race in 17th.
The next race for the Bentley Motorsport works team will be in the Blancpain GT Series at Paul Ricard on Saturday 25th June.