The number 84 HTP Mercedes took the race victory at Silverstone on Sunday following an exciting second race of the season. Maxi Buhk took the chequered flag in the Mercedes-AMG only just ahead of Laurens Vanthoor in the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS GT3 whilst the pole-sitting number 16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Mirko Bortolotti, Rolf Ineichen and Jeroen Bleekemolen came home third.
At the start the Grasser Lamborghini with Bortolotti at the wheel leads with the number 74 ISR Audi of Franck Perera close behind. The fight stays close through to the first round of pit stops with the Audi never dropping more than three seconds behind and the Lamborghini holds onto first place with Rolf Ineichen taking over behind the wheel.
Perera soon begins to drop away and Ineichen instead has to contend with the number 1 Audi of Dries Vanthoor, who has made his way to the very front with a legal but unappreciated quick pit stop, whilst Jazeman Jaafar follows in third. A little over halfway into the race both Vantoor and Jaafar are able to pass Ineichen, with the three leaders all running within a second of each other.
The final pits stops see Buhk take over from Jaafar, Laurens Vantoor steps into the Audi and Jeroen Bleekemolen replaces Ineichen in the Lamborghini. With traffic slowing him down, Buhk starts the stint 2.4 seconds ahead of the chasing Audi, but the gap is soon down to half a second when came a twenty minute safety car period to recover a stranded Ferrari. There are now two trains of cars circulating the Northamptonshire race track, with the second group struggling to catch the main pack resulting in the safety car staying out longer than it needed to.
After two aborted safety car in-laps, the field is let loose with twenty minutes left on the clock. The advantage is with Buhk, who now has a clear race track ahead and a backmarker between him and Vantoor. The Audi driver knows what he has to do and proceeds to chase down the AMG with some scorching laps to pull back the deficit, but Buhk is equal to it and crosses the line less than a second ahead of the charging Vantoor. Bleekemolen rounds out the podium a little way behind as he struggles with the extra traffic further down the field.
McLaren, proud winners of the season-opener in Monza, again have to work their way through the field after qualifying a poor eighteenth place. Unlike the Italian race, Rob Bell, Shane Van Gisbergen and Côme Ledogar today aren’t able to bring the fight to HTP AMG, finishing sixth with the works McLaren 650S GT3 and dropping to second and eleven points behind HTP in the championship.
Pro-Am sees Maro Engel snatch victory on the last lap from Jonny Adam in the Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3, followed by Philippe Giauque in the number 74 ISR Racing Audi finishing third in class. In the AM Cup Stef Vancampenhoudt and Pierre Ehret take the win in the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, ahead of the Kaspersky Motorsport Ferrari 458 GT3.
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