LIVE STREAM: Blancpain GT Series - Paul Ricard 1000KM - Saturday 24th June

[Paul Jeffrey]

Check out the full live stream of the 2017 Blancpain Endurance Series Paul Ricard 1000km this Saturday 24th June.

GT3 racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series continues to get stronger on a seemingly race by race basis, and the upcoming Paul Ricard 1000km is a perfect example of the growth within this exciting championship.

Acting as something of a dry run for the teams and drivers prior to the season jewel at the Spa 24 Hours next month, Paul Ricard looks set to be the perfect stage for the series stars to lay down an important marker in the fight for the 2017 drivers' championship.

With the Circuit Paul Ricard 1000 km offering more points for a win – 33 for the winner, 24 for the second placed drivers, 19, 15, 12, 9, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point for the remaining cars in the top 10 – the third endurance round of the season is of major importance for all teams aiming for the title, whether it be the teams’ or drivers’, overall or in each of the Cups.

A big series, a big race, big drivers and exotic cars. What's there not to like

The Entry List

Qualifying - Saturday June 24th - 08:55 BST / 07:55 GMT

Race - Saturday June 24th - 16:30 BST / 15:30 GMT

The Cars

• Audi R8 LMS
• Mercedes-AMG GT3
• Bentley Continental GT3
• Ferrari 488 GT3
• Lamborghini Huracan GT3
• Emil Frey Jaguar G3
• Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3
• BMW M6 GT3
• McLaren 650 S GT3
• Aston Martin V12 GT3
• Porsche 991 GT3 R

The Calendar
01st-02nd April - Misano (ITA) – Sprint
22nd-23rd April - Monza (ITA) – Endurance 3 hours
06th-07th May- Brands Hatch (GBR) – Sprint
13th-14th May - Silverstone (GBR) – Endurance 3 hours
02nd -04th June - Zolder (BEL) - Sprint
23rd-24th June - Circuit Paul Ricard (FRA) – Endurance 1000kms
04th July Official Test Day - Total 24 Hours of Spa (BEL)
27th-30th July - Total 24 Hours of Spa (BEL) – Endurance 24 hours
25th-27th August - Budapest (HUN) - Sprint
15th-17th September - Nürburgring (DEU) – Sprint
30th Sept-01st October - Barcelona (ESP) - Endurance 3 hours

The Drivers Championship

You can catch all the racing here at RaceDepartment from 08:55 BST Saturday 24th June - live on your very own RaceDepartment.com


Keep an eye out at RaceDepartment during 2017 as we look to stream more live racing than ever before. It's going to be a great event and a great year ahead!

Drop a comment or two below about the sixth round of the 2017 Blancpain GT Series with your fellow community members and sit back and enjoy the broadcast

Happy viewing everyone!

 

[Andreas Knöpke]

Race - Saturday June 24th - 18:55 BST / 17:55 GMT

You sure?
On the Blancpain page it says:

Main Race
18:00 | 16:00 GMT

Also the PDF states this: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/... Series - Paul Ricard - Timetable Draft 8.pdf

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

You sure?
On the Blancpain page it says:

Hey you are right (sort of ).

According to the stream itself it is now saying 16:30 BST start.. honestly it was loaded up as 18:55 when I first prepared the article!!

Thank you man for the heads up.. OP updated

 

[Akra]

Working on a little project. Here's my first race report.

Bentley Victorious at Paul Ricard

The Paul Ricard 1000km has quickly become the traditional Blancpain GT Series warm-up event for the Total 24 Hours of Spa, allowing the teams to experiment with strategy and prepare for the longest event of the year. This year M-Sport took their first endurance win since 2014 with the #8 Bentley taking the victory ahead of the #72 SMP Ferrari in second and the #1 WRT Audi third.

A series of early race safety car interventions split the field into 3 different strategy groups, resulting in 5 different manufacturers leading the race and looking like potential winners.

The #50 AF Corse Ferrari was first to blink, pitting under the first safety car period after an early race spin. The majority of the field, including the eventual winning #8 Bentley, pitted during the second safety car period, whilst Black Falcon Mercedes and ROWE Racing BMWs chose to see out the maximum stint times and pitted under green.

Reliability became a surprising concern for the normally bulletproof GT3 cars. Lamborghini were the first to hit issues, with 2 spectacular engine failures for the Huracans. Bentley, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes lost front runners throughout the race, giving all manufacturers reason for concern with only a month until the 24 Hours of Spa.

Entering the second half of the race, overall strategies played out and it gradually became clear which race engineers made the right calls. The #8 Bentley and #84 HTP Mercedes, who stopped in the second safety car period, looked to have gotten the strategy correct. The #50 Ferrari was in close proximity, but requiring an extra stop, while the #4 Black Falcon Mercedes and #99 BMW were out of sync.

Shortly after half way the #99 BMW was wheeled into the garage, ending BMWs bid for the win. An hour later, the #84 HTP Mercedes campaign ended as the car ground to a halt at the start of the Mistral Straight. With an hour to go, the #50 Ferrari lost 2 laps with a crippled run back to the pits taking it out of contention for a podium position. This was closely followed by the #4 HTP free-wheeling into the pit lane with half an hour remaining, leaving the #8 Bentley unchallenged for the overall victory.

The #72 SMP sponsored AF Corse Ferrari took second, giving Viktor Shaytar his first overall podium in the Blancpain GT Series. The reliability woes were a gift for the struggling Audis, with Rene Rast managing to recover the #1 WRT Audi R8 to the final step of the podium.

In Pro-Am Cup, the #77 Barwell Lamborghini came home the winner, with #97 TF Sport Aston Martin in second place. It wasn’t a clear run for Road to Le Mans class winning Aston Martin, with amateur driver Salih Yoluc involved in an altercation with the #76 ISR Audi of Jamie Green, resulting in a 30 second penalty for the Audi driver.

The #888 Kessel Racing Ferrari won the Am Cup, despite the #36 Walkenhorst BMW crossing the line first. The BMW was given a 30 second time penalty post-race for a drive time violation, costing the Walkenhorst team the victory.

The most surprising theme of this event was reliability, with all manufacturers (with the exception of Audi) suffering from reliability problems resulting in retirements. Cars which had previously run trouble-free, such as the Mercedes AMG, suffered race ending failures which are unexpected for such high profile teams. Reliability and endurance testing will be top of team’s priorities at the Spa test day. For overall winners M-Sport, they will be happy to have gotten the strategy correct after questionable calls cost the team multiple race victories in 2016.

Next up is the classic 24 Hours of Spa, 29-30th of July.