Silverstone Sat/Sun 23rd/24th May 2015

There was a lot of motorsport to chose from on Bank Holiday weekend but there was only one choice as far as I was concerned....Silverstone for the 2nd round of the Blancpain Endurance Series. The lure of a 60+ car entry of GT3 cars racing for 3 hours was far too good to miss. The GT3 category is one of motorsport's success stories in recent years and Silverstone saw an even bigger grid than the 1st round at Monza in April which only saw 58 start! A complex Balance of Performance regulation tries to ensure a degree of parity throughout the field which, although irks the purist, helps maintain Manufacturer interest and there were 11 different makes on show at Silverstone.
The support categories were all making their only visit to UK soil too this was a rare "International" meeting. There was a race each day for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Northern European Cup (NEC) Formula Renault and Auto GP.
Strangely the Blancpain series leaves qualifying for the race until Sunday mornings but there was 4 hours worth of practice in various forms on Saturday. Drivers are categorised as Gold, Silver or Bronze dependant on their speed/skill so there was a 1 hour session for Bronze drivers only. Entries are then divided into Pro, Pro-Am and Am so at least every car has something to challenge for in the race. If you're spending hundreds of thousands of pounds to race and you're in 45th position overall it's good to keep drivers happy!
The support races over the weekend were all of differing quality and excitement. The best Lamborghini entry I'd seen for many years provided an entertaining race. The new 5.2litre V10 Huracan model has seen an increase in entry this year replacing the old Gallardo. Single seater refugee Patrick Kujala winning both Saturday and Sunday's races.
Slightly less entertaining were the pair of F.Renault races. Swiss Louis Deletraz winning both races and with some ease too.Louis looks a more promising driver than his Dad, Jean-Denis. The senior Deletraz bought himself a few Grand Prix outings in the mid 90's and along with Giovanni Lavaggi probably amongst the worst pay-drivers ever in F1! Sunday morning's 25 minute race featured the obligatory over-long safety car period but the young Deletraz eased away from the pack at the restart to win easily. One to watch in the future. Although not exciting racing it was good to see the contemporary Tatuus F.Renault in the UK as we do not currently have a series for these cars on our shores....a sad state of affairs.
The other single-seaters in action at Silverstone were Auto GP. A rather curious cul-de-sac of a series these days. Fantastic sounding 3.4ltr. engined ex-A1 GP cars but with only 7 in attendance, one wonders if this is its last season. The wasted talent of Antonio Pizzonia won Saturday's race but Sunday's race provided more in the way of entertainment. A reversed grid, Pizzonia stalling on the parade lap and having to start in the pits plus a reduction in length to 8 laps from 10 led to some action at Club corner. Luis sa Silva holding off a disgruntled Facu Regalia to win and a few verbals on the podium interviews between them too!
After a rather fraught, drizzly qualifying session early on Sunday morning we were left with 61 to start the Blancpain race at 2.45pm. After an incident at Becketts on the first lap which accounted for a couple of cars the race settled down. The use of a full course yellow which slowed the cars down in position on track rather than all queue behind the safety car is a good idea which was also used in the World Endurance race in April. This means that a genuine race can take place and it is a rare good idea in motor racing these days. After pitting earlier than it's rivals on the first wave of stops the McLaren 650S of Rob Bell/Shane van Gisbergen/Kevin Estre emerged from the hordes to win comfortably, 23 seconds in front of the other 60 cars....! I rarely get excited trackside much these days but positioned myself on the entry to Stowe for the start of the race and the sight of  60 cars blasting down the Hangar Straight will stay with me for a long time.
I really enjoyed the weekend, £20 for a weekend ticket was good value and I even bought a very good programme for £5. It was Silverstone so the weather was always cool but apart from a brief bit of rain on Sunday morning, dry for the most part.The lightning illustrated on the front cover of the programme thankfully failed to materialise! Hardly a soul was to be seen on Saturday but a decent crowd on Sunday to report. The new MD at Silverstone, Patrick Allen, seems to have turned the place around a bit. There is certainly less of the Stalag Silverstone of old and a more user-friendly experience is evident. My only gripe still is that the "new" sections of the circuit are still pretty much out of bounds when the stands aren't open but hopefully access will improve under the new regime.



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