Blancpain GT: Vanthoor/Frijns dominate Brands Hatch feature

WRT Audi duo Robin Frijns and Laurens Vanthoor completed a Blancpain Sprint Series double with victory in the main race at Brands Hatch.

The #1 Audi R8 LMS ultra followed up on its win in the qualifying race when it really mattered by taking a 14-second victory in the full-points event. Frijns led from pole position and had built up a lead of 4.5s by the time Kevin Estre propelled his Attempto McLaren up the inside of Atila Abreu's BMW Z4 to take second.

Frenchman Estre reduced the lead to less than three seconds when Frijns made his mandatory pit stop, but a quick turnaround by the Belgian WRT squad meant Vanthoor resumed with a 10s lead after the sequence of stops was complete.

Vanthoor, who had a stomach complaint and had to be passed fit by a doctor to take part in the second race, was then able to increase his lead over the Team Brazil entry Valdeno Brito had taken over from Abreu over the final half hour.

"The Audi is not that quick in a straight line, so I knew a good start was crucial for the race," Frijns said. "I was pushing hard to build a gap because I knew Laurens was ill."

Estre pitted two laps after Frijns, but a slow stop for the McLaren 650S meant Rob Bell rejoined in third place. Bell was able to reduce the gap to Brito to less than three seconds but was never able to mount a challenge for the runner-up position.

Estre had spent the first eight laps bottled up behind the second of the BMW Team Brazil entries started by Caca Bueno.

Bueno and team-mate Sergio Jimenez ended up fourth, five seconds behind the McLaren.

Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Nicky Catsburg claimed fifth aboard their Reiter Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 R-EX.

Von Thurn und Taxis, who had been penalised in the opening race for pitlane speeding, jumped from seventh on the grid to sixth, a position he held to the pit stops.

Markus Winkelhock moved ahead in the Phoenix Audi he shared with Niki Mayr-Melnhof during the pit stops, but lost out to Catsburg in the closing stages. The Lamborghini driver was then able to pass Craig Dolby in the MRS Nissan two laps from home.

The Nissan GT-R NISMO, which had been started by Sean Walkinshaw, ended up sixth, while the Phoenix Audi dropped to eighth courtesy of a five-second penalty for track limits infringements.

Bernd Schneider and Alexey Karachev claimed Pro-Am honors with 10th place in their GT Russian Team Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG.

Victory in the Silver Cup class went to the HTP Bentley of Olivier Lombard and Jules Szymkowiak, which recovered from a first-lap spin to take 12th position.

RESULTS - 42 LAPS:

Originally on Autosport.com