Page 16 - Decadence

Racing took the Am teams to rst and second, with the Huracan of Team HB Racing on the third step. Amateur drivers David Perel, Jacques Duyver and Marco Zanuttini were lifting the trophies. For the Pro Am cup the teams of Rinaldi and Kessel swapped places for rst and second, whilst AKKA ASP’s Mercedes AMG GT3 lled the last podium step. Drivers Alexander Mattschull, Daniel Keilwitz and Jean-Luc Beaubelique took the honours.
So, where the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 won the Pro series, it’s Italian prancing horse rival the 488 GT3 dominated Pro Am and Am series, but the German GT giants of Audi and Mercedes were omni-present for the entire series and taking their fair share of podiums. That’s what we love about the GT Series, the hard racing between these super brands keeps us dialled in until the last lap of the last race.
Due the nature of the GT Sprint cup most drivers had checked out of the hotels and were homeward bound on Sunday night, so we didn’t miss any big parties as we bailed out for our drive to the Eurotunnel. Stopping for dinner within an hour of the track, we made it into the Calais hotel at a sensible time ready for an early tunnel crossing arriving back in London for Lunch time.
The next week ew past whilst putting the next Paddock Life issue to bed and we were due to collect our “Adrenaline” issue from the printers on the Wednesday before the Barcelona Endurance Cup season nale. My cohort’s leg was improving so we decided the Range Rover was the best means of transport. We had committed to provide the gift bags for the Blancpain/SRO hospitality at what promised to be an excellent nal race, so a quick visit to artisan Gin distillers, Warner Edwards on Wednesday afternoon provided one of the llers for the black Paddock Life gift bags. Miniatures of my current favourite Gin, the Warner Edwards rhubarb gin, accompanied lip balms and skin creams from Harley Street's Dr Gabriella along with a pristine, hot off the press “Adrenaline” issue of Paddock Life made up the contents of the VIP bags. So with the back of the Range Rover loaded with boxes I collected Jenny and we hit the M25 in torrential rain en-route for the Eurotunnel. A quick rearrange of our cargo and Jenny was able to get her broken foot comfortable across the back seats whilst I pushed hard through France to our rst overnight just outside Paris, a civilised start in the morning and a mile eating cruise landed us in Montpelier in time for a fabulous dinner and a good nights sleep, before our nal leg into Spain and directly to the circuit for Friday lunch time.
It was warm and sunny as we collected our passes and drove into the circuit. First stop, Blancpain Business Club, but this time it had the full hospitality unit attached. This magni cent structure pops out of 4 articulated trucks over a 3 day build and seats just under 200 covers in the restaurant, whilst the bar and the three outside terraces were buzzing in the Catalonian sunshine. We unloaded the very dirty Range Rover outside this gleaming venue and quickly stashed it away around the back. If I had time to get it cleaned we could have lined her up with the display of stunning F-Type Jaguars provided by Emil Frey whose GT3 Jaguar XKR’s campaign well in the Endurance rounds. Bags delivered and lined up in the upstairs of ce of the hospitality unit it was time to go to work.
First stop was a chat with amateur driver Oliver Morley who ran extremely well in the Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3 at Spa and was
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