BENTLEY MOTORSPORT GAINS VALUABLE EXPERIENCE AT GRUELLING NÜRBURGRING 24-HOUR RA 

This weekend, Bentley Motorsport has experienced the toughest and most challenging 24 hour race in the world. After a very positive start that saw all three Continental GT3s entered in the race running in the top ten after two hours, the fortunes of the team changed. First, the No. 85 car of Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane was hit and spun off the track, costing a total of five hours of recovery and repair time and dropping the team out of contention. However, after repairs, the car was one of the quickest on track for the rest of the race, climbing 72 places before the chequered flag to finish 74^th !

 Looking nice while it was running!

Mechanics earn their pay!

After consistently running in the top ten for the first eight hours of the race, at midnight the no. 84 car of Lance David Arnold, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Christian Menzel spun during extremely tricky and changeable conditions, with the ensuing frontal damage resulting in the retirement of the car.

Bentley Team HTP(the Works-supported outfit)  scored the best result for the marque with the no.11 Continental GT3 of Harold Primat, Christoper Brück, Clemens Schmid and Marco Seefried finishing 8^th proving the Bentley package is competitive!

Bentley's Member of the Board for Engineering, Rolf Frech, commented:"We knew this would be an extremely challenging race, and of course we're disappointed with our result, but we have positives to take away. First, our friends at Bentley Team HTP finished in the top ten, which is a fantastic result for the car's debut in this race. Guy was incredibly unlucky with his collision, that was no fault of his own, but the mechanics were so impressive and we showed excellent pace afterwards which bodes well for the future. Losing the second car was also very tough, but I'm very glad that we worked so hard to return our #85 car to the track so we can learn more for the future. We'll continue from here, move forward and be ready for our next race, which is only a few days away at Silverstone."

The no. 85 car endured a difficult race after an encouraging start. Guy Smith drove the opening stint, starting from P20, and after two hours had moved up ten places to sit P10, showing strong pace. However, as part of a train of cars moving through the field, the car was hit from behind while the pack moved around a slow competitor from a different race class, with the collision spinning Guy in to the barrier and destroying the front left suspension.

Ninety minutes later, the car was returned to the Bentley Motorsport garage, and the team of mechanics set to work assessing the damage and starting repairs. Three hours later their work was done, and the No 85 car made a popular return to the track with Steven Kane at the wheel, heading out in to the night to gather valuable Nordschleife experience for the future. From that point on, the Bentley Boys drove double-stints until the finish, at which point they'd climbed 72 places to P74.

Guy Smith, who drove the first stint said  "It was really frustrating to be out of the competition so early, especially given how great the car was later in the race. I was having a fantastic stint, I gained ten places and the car felt good, so it was a huge disappointment to get punted off. I was in a train of cars that had to brake for a competitor from one of the slower classes, and the car behind hit me and span me off into the Armco. The team did a phenomenal job making repairs, which meant we could get back on the track and gain some more valuable experience for the future."

Andy Meyrick, who took over after the repair confirmed "This wasn't the result we were hoping for, but there are actually loads of positives to take out of this weekend. We've developed a great setup, we had no reliability issues at all, and all three of us now have proper experience of racing here in the dark. That gives me confidence that with a little more luck, we can really take the race to the established competition here."

Steven Kane, the teams 3^rd Driver "I didn't drive the car until after the incident, but I couldn't believe how good it was. It was just a dream to drive, and from the moment we re-joined, our pace was frequently as good as the leaders. We definitely could have competed for a top-five finish. So that's really encouraging, and we'll take what we've learnt here and apply it straight away."

Now the team is now looking forward to Silverstone, for the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the home of British motorsport. Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steve Kane will be looking to build on their second-in-class, fourth-overall finish from the opening round in Monza, while the second Continental GT3 of Andy Soucek, Maxi Buhk and Maxime Soulet will also be fighting for a podium finish. Both tasks will be made harder by another change to the Bentley Continental GT3's Balance of Performance, with a reduction in maximum boost pressure hindering the car's performance. Bentley's Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, comments: "Silverstone is our spiritual home and I really hope we can put on a good show for the crowd. It'll be a challenging race weekend due to the stiff competition but we know what it takes to win at Silverstone and as always we'll race as hard as we can."