An intense weekend of racing has just come to an end. Kessel Racing competed at Paul Ricard in France, in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the GT Sports Club, while in Hungary, at the Hungaroring, the third round of the Ferrari Challenge Europe 2017 season took the stage.
BLANCPAIN GT SERIES IN LE CASTELLET
Paul Ricard saw the third Blancpain Endurance Series Seasonal Stage over 6 hours and the first satisfying result of the Kessel Racing weekend, with the category victory by the AM of Duyver-Perel-Zanuttini. Broniszewski-Rizzoli-Cressoni's PRO-AM car had earned pole position in their class, but during the race they were penalized by a long pit stop in the initial stages after a technical failure.
Paul Ricard, also saw the third round of the GT Sports Club. In Sunday's qualifying race sixth place for De Bernardi and 11th for Earle, ranked second among the Iron Cup drivers. The main race, which in fact closed the agonistic weekend in Provence, produced the fifth overall position for De Bernardi and Earle in fourteenth, but still second among the drivers of the special Iron Cup standings.
FERRARI CHALLENGE IN BUDAPEST
In Budapest, however, it was the third round of the Ferrari Challenge Europe: on Saturday, in the first Shell Cup race, Rick Lovat came third place, while Fons Scheltema had to drop out of the race a few corners from the checkered flag. In the Pirelli Trophy, Ettore Contini, returning to the Challenge after a few seasons off, finished fifth in the PRO-AM class. On Sunday, the in the final races, Contini finished in 6th place in the PRO-AM class in the Pirelli Trophy, while in the Shell Cup, Fons Scheltema reached fourth position, third among the Gentlemen, and Rick Lovat finished his race weekend in seventh.
With the double weekend of Paul Ricard and Budapest concluded for Kessel Racing, the next track meetings are set for Spa-Francorchamps for the tests preceding the "24 Hours" at the end of July; The Ferrari Challenge Europe, on the other hand, will be held on the weekend of 22 and 23 July on the French Paul Ricard track.
Ronnie Kessel (Team Owner): "It was certainly a red hot weekend and not just because of the temperatures. Delighted for the success of the Gentlemen car at Paul Ricard, while there is disappointment for what happened with the PRO-AM car which had shown to have deserved a place among the leaders. Happy also in the GT Sports Club where our drivers put on a great show as always. In Budapest we witnessed the return, after many seasons, of Ettore Contini who deserves a special applause for the positions obtained after so many seasons off, to appear once again in the Trofeo Pirelli. In Shell Cup there was a podium with Lovat in race one and other placings".