Bentley takes third podium in three blancpain Gt series events

• Bentley Motorsport finishes in third place at Brands Hatch
• The team takes its third podium from three Blancpain GT Series rounds
• Bentley pit crew wins the Pitstop Challenge for the fastest stop

7 May 2016, Brands Hatch – The Bentley Boys stood on the podium for the third time this season, earlier today, as the #8 Continental GT3 finished third at Brands Hatch, the first of two championship events on British soil.

It was an incredible comeback story for Andy Soucek (ES) and Maxime Soulet (BE), who qualified in 24^th place for the qualifying race. Climbing through the pack to 18^th, Soucek pitted and Soulet emerged six places further ahead thanks to a pitstop that went on to win the Bentley Team M-Sport crew the Pitstop Challenge award.

Finishing the qualifying race in fifth place, the #8 team started the one-hour main race on new tyres and Soulet made an incredibly mature and confident attack on the pack to climb to second. Soucek emerged from the pits in third place on used tyres and drove fantastically to take the team’s third podium of the Series.

The #7 Continental GT3 also made good progress throughout the qualifying and main races climbing from P13 to finish in P8.

“When you start off a weekend in a less than ideal position its very easy for a team to lose motivation,” commented Bentley’s Director of Motorsport Brian Gush. “But, the Bentley team has shown this weekend that whatever hand we are dealt, we will use everything we have to get on the podium. The team has really come together and, here at Brands Hatch, we have witnessed some incredible driving and world-class pitstops. We need to take this forward to the next round at Silverstone, where we hope to repeat our race win of 2014.”

Bentley Team M-Sport will race in the second of two home races in the Blancpain GT Series calendar next weekend, as the championship heads to Silverstone for the second race in the Blancpain Endurance Cup.

-Ends-

Mike Sayer
Product and Motorsport Communications Manager
mike.sayer@bentley.co.uk
+44(0)7507 846782

Rebecca Jones
Motorsport Communications Officer
rebecca@viprmedia.com
+44(0)7866 701161

Bentley Motors Ltd
Pyms Lane
Crewe
CW1 3PL

www.bentleymedia.com
communications@bentley.co.uk
@BentleyComms

Driver Quotes

Andy Soucek, car #8: “It all came together this weekend. Qualifying wasn’t great but our qualifying race went well and we got into the top ten. The team did a great job in the pits to jump us six places and they won the award for the fastest stop, which is a fantastic recognition for the crew. The man of the weekend has to be Maxime, he did a mega job to make some great passes – something that isn’t easy to do here at Brands Hatch.”

Maxime Soulet, car #8: “We went out on new tyres at the start and I had to use them to make as many palaces as possible. The car felt incredible and I had the confidence in it to make the moves and climb through the pack. I can’t wait to do it all again next weekend at Silverstone.”

Notes to editors

• Bentley Motorsport is based at the Bentley Motors headquarters in Crewe. From there, the operation runs Bentley Team M-Sport, and oversees three Works-supported teams around the world.

• The Continental GT3 is built by the Bentley motorsport team in conjunction with M-Sport. The Bentley GT3 team is led by Bentley Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush supported by M-Sport’s Chief Engineer, Christian Loriaux.

• Bentley Motors’ headquarters in Crewe is home to all of its operations including design, R&D, engineering and production of the company’s four model lines, Continental, Bentayga, Flying Spur and Mulsanne. The combination of fine craftsmanship, using skills that have been handed down through generations, alongside engineering expertise and cutting-edge technology is unique to UK luxury car brands.