Page 25 - Decadence

key looking place in a side street, but very busy, they had one table for two outside in the window, perfect. Now it got interesting... wine list, bottle ordered – easy when in Barcelona there is so much great local red wine. Food? Menu? “I am the menu” stated our waiter in pretty good English and proceeded to describe the evening choices, but not until he’d poured our wine and made sure Jenny was comfortable with her broken foot resting under the table. The food sounded and actually was really good, tapas again, but with some really great main courses to compliment. We were some of the last few to leave Bar Mut that evening, again an incredibly reasonable bill and a lovely evening talking to the staff. Bar Mut is a must go to place whenever you are in Barcelona – don’t expect Michelin service or fancy tables, just a very cool vibe, a mix of supercool people and really friendly staff – oh and some great wine.
As we arrived back at the W we had to squeeze past the queue for the elevator to Eclipse, the top oor nightclub to get to our rooms. We looked at each other and nodded. Night cap in Eclipse it
was, as residents there was no standing in line, we just stepped into the lift directly to the bar. A couple of signature cocktails in the VIP room rounded off Saturday night in Barcelona.
Sunday morning as we drove to the circuit the police presence was ominous. We were soon on the motorways and at the circuit. Again, a bit of rain was threatening, but only light showers interrupted an otherwise sunny day. The morning ew past then it was time for an early lunch in the fantastic Blancpain restaurant, before the cars went to the grid. I wanted to get some on track shots, but it was way too hot to be running around the grid and the circuit with my reproof overalls and helmet on, so I did the grid, then got in position for the start at the bottom of the starting straight, before running across the curves on the other side, this circuit is great for this. There is a fantastic sector where the cars drop down a hill into a sweeping left hander, before climbing through a slight “S” into a sweeping fast right and out of sight. I got my timing perfect to run back to the car, put on the reproofs and hit the pit lane. All crew and photographers in
the pitlane need to wear reproofs and helmets, as mine are my old 5 layer racing overalls they are pretty hot to run around in. As I walked through the back of the garagres I could see on the screens that the pit stop window was open, so I took up station on the pitlane and waited.
Cooled off and back in my jeans and sneakers I watched the last stages of the race in the Busines Club, before making my way to the podium. Today was not just the race results, but the season winner and in the Endurance Cup the Pro Team winner is a pretty big thing. This is the pinnacle of ‘Gentleman’s racing” for the Pro Am and Am teams, but for the Pro teams it established drivers and manufactures. And in this series there are some pretty big names in motor manufacturing slugging it out.
The Audi R8 LMS of WRT Racing driven by Benoit Treluyer, Stephane Richelmi and Nataneal Berthon took rst place in todays race, with the BW M6 GT3 of Rowe Racing second and the Jaguar G3 of Emil Frey team third and fourth. A fantastic outing for the only big cats on the grid. But I got the impression that GRT Grasser Racing’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 was playing it safe and staying out of trouble as their eighth place nish gave the season tittle. All the cars were lined out in the pit lane, which looked spectacular as the Lime Green Huracan of Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Caldarelli and Christian Engelhart, the winning drivers of the Endurance Cup 2017 was parked below the podium. The winning team for the Endurance Cup was M-Sport Bentley by one point which goes to show how closely fought these races are. Glitter bombs and Champaign spray followed as the drivers took to the podium to lift their well earned silverware before heading back to their hotels before a night of celebrations at Opium Club Barcelona.
As we drove back to the hotel, detour after detour as police road blocks stopped our progress, we arrived back the W, just after the Grasser team, a quick change, before dinner at Gallito on the Paseo Mare Nostrum (right next to Pez Vela) for some great Ceviche before taking a cycle rickshaw around the Passeig Maritim to Opium where SRO had laid on a night to celebrate the end of the season. A good night was had by all and as we checked out of the W to start our drive back to London we both agreed there couldn’t be a better end to fantastic seasons GT racing.
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