2015 Blancpain Endurance Series

[Akrapovic]

"Car 7 must respect track limits" lol...

Track limits: Only sometimes. And for some cars!

Also, the power that Nissan has is unreal.

[rich07]

I caught the last hour of the race and quite enjoyed it. That chase of the Nissan by the Bentley was thrilling stuff, before Kane spun it looked like it was going to be very close finish, shame he lost the back end but the trio looked very happy afterwards regardless, no surprise seeing how their season has progressed so far. Glad to see MVDS in third, Markus Paltalla said that he overtook 39 cars in his first stint which was epic considering the Z4 isn't suited to Paul Ricards long straights.

This the first race I watched on the Blancpain app on my phone and it was without problems, I wasn't on wifi just the local crappy phone network and with dailymotion expected some stream break ups and freezing but nothing happened. Kudos to SRO.

[TF110]

Missed the race! Howd the Lambo lose?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by TF110

Missed the race! Howd the Lambo lose?

Venturini wasn't quite as fast as the other drivers in his stint (off the top of my head, Meyrick, Luhr/Paltalla, Chiyo/Reip were in the other leading cars during his stint) and he had to serve a drive-through for an infringement during the stop that put him in the car. But by that time the Lambo had already been passed on-track by the GTR and Meyrick's Bentley.

The Huracan had the pace otherwise, but that stint (3rd for the car) killed any chances of victory.

[MitchZ06]

Hilarious how much faster the GTR is vs everything else in the tubes.

They've already uploaded it.

[jasonjessica09]

Some of these starting drivers are morons for making contact on the first laps of a 6 hour race. I'd have no problems losing places if it means I could keep the car clean.

[carbon_titanium]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Some of these starting drivers are morons for making contact on the first laps of a 6 hour race. I'd have no problems losing places if it means I could keep the car clean.

naaaaaa the usual paul ricard re-start

[FIRE]

A 6 hour race 1 week after Le Mans....wasn't really interested before the race but I really enjoyed it. Great racing.

[Victor_RO]

DSC have a press release from BMW Motorsport explaining most of the technical details of the car that Alex Zanardi is sharing with Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler, and how they accommodated Zanardi's situation in an endurance race with driver changes: http://www.dailysportscar.com/2015/0...-spengler.html

[rich07]

I just came to post that Victor

Very interesting. I've been wondering how they would manage to suit both Zanardi and his two co drivers so this is a mind read . Good on BMW Motorsport for investing in this type of technology.

[Rodger Davies]

Just watched the race and have to say it seemed like a really good one, thrilling and with the Nissan, Bentley and BMW. Great coverage too, ad-free HD stream with good commentary.

Trying to decide whether to go to Spa now, for what could be another classic and the last works endurance outings for the Z4 and SLS. 66 cars on the entry list, apparently, with 28 in Pro.

Great to hear that Mike will be coming over, look forward to finding out in what and with who.

[scudd]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

Just watched the race and have to say it seemed like a really good one, thrilling and with the Nissan, Bentley and BMW. Great coverage too, ad-free HD stream with good commentary.

Trying to decide whether to go to Spa now, for what could be another classic and the last works endurance outings for the Z4 and SLS. 66 cars on the entry list, apparently, with 28 in Pro.

Great to hear that Mike will be coming over, look forward to finding out in what and with who.

Spa test day is on right now.

http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/n...4-hours-of-spa

[TzeiTzei]

The track limit abuse was just ridiculous.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

The track limit abuse was just ridiculous.

Yes, but on the other hand rules were equal for all drivers.
So officials not punishing some drivers and other drivers not.

[J Jay]

Doing something wrong competently versus doing something right incompetently isn't a choice anyone should have to make. I'd love to hear the justification for the decision, Meyrick (?) mentioned a potential safety issue in the booth but that was cut short when Kane tagged the #75 ISR Audi.

[urdragon]

And then why don't they just make higher the chicanes?, and didn't the red and blue stripes of PAul Ricard delay the cars if they were stepped? Not delay enough?

That thing of the track limits should be easy to solve it was a real problem.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Yes, but on the other hand rules were equal for all drivers.

I know, I just felt really frustrated when I watched that race. They weren't even trying to stay on the "track". It's a disgrace to call Paul Ricard a race track. It's a parking lot.

[Miguel]

Originally Posted by urdragon

That thing of the track limits should be easy to solve it was a real problem.

Yes, gravel.

[outnumbered]

Frank Stippler explained on the Motors TV commentary that the race director had given special dispensation to ignore the track limits at the end of the Mistral straight - for some supposedly safety-related reason. Hence a lot of drivers going round the kerb and flattening off the apex of the next corner.

But it also looked like there were many other places where a lot of cars were four wheels off...

[Akrapovic]

The rules weren't equal though. The lead Nissan was off the road everywhere. Fine, if that's what the race director has decided. But then the Bentley was told stay within track limits. What?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

The rules weren't equal though. The lead Nissan was off the road everywhere. Fine, if that's what the race director has decided. But then the Bentley was told stay within track limits. What?

Yeah, there were shades of this year's WEC Silverstone race in the officiating, as if race control "switches on" to track limit violations if and only if a leading car is involved and it is the last hour of the race.

It didn't utterly ruin the race, I still enjoyed it for the most part. But it leaves a sour taste when I look back on it and wonder how things would have been different if the white line mattered more.

[Deleted]

Exactly Jay

I didn't watch the race. But the runoff abuse can't have been any worse than in the WEC this year. But somehow up there it's 'okay' and I get either ignored or attacked by mentioning it.

At least Paul Ricard doesn't pretend to be anything more than asphalt testing course with painted lines, it's even in their marketing. Many other courses don't say so

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by Chiana

I didn't watch the race. But the runoff abuse can't have been any worse than in the WEC this year. But somehow up there it's 'okay' and I get either ignored or attacked by mentioning it.

It was far worse than anything I remember seeing in WEC. The first lap was almost comical as some drivers just opted to drive straight through the painted area and not bother with the corner.

[Akrapovic]

It was worse than WEC Silverstone by miles. Every second or third corner was abused. But we seen the lead Nissan do it fine, and then the Bentley was catching the Nissan and got told off.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by scudd

Spa test day is on right now.

http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/n...4-hours-of-spa

16th overall and eighth in pro am for you guys. Good start. How'd the new car go? I'm interested in what Lowndes had to say about the Gallardo compared to the other GT3 cars that he's raced like the Audi and Ferrari.