A second-place finish for the SMP Racing crew at Circuit Paul Ricard 1000kms

2 June 2019/ smp

On June 1, the six-hour Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup race took place at Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

The SMP Racing crew of Mikhail Aleshin, Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina finished in second place on the podium and became the leader of the Endurance Cup drivers' standings.

SMP Racing driver Mikhail Aleshin started the race. Driving a Ferrari 488 GT3, he had a good start but soon got hit by a rival’s car. Therefore, Mikhail had to take an unplanned pit stop for a bumper change. Although some time was lost, the SMP Racing crew soon managed to come out on top and lead the race for a long time. During the last pit stop, a technical problem occurred and the SMP Racing car was hit with a drive-through. As a result, SMP Racing finished the race in second position.


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“First of all, I would like to congratulate the SMP Racing team on this great result,” Mikhail Aleshin said. “We could have won this race, if it were not for the penalty due to unsuccessful pit stop. But I’m very happy with our second place. This shows the great potential of the team and the car. And I want to emphasize that we are leaving France being the leaders of the championship. For the first time, our Russian SMP Racing team is on top of this series. We are all incredibly happy, and this will give us an even greater motivation to work harder and continue to fight for the victory.”

Another SMP Racing driver Denis Bulatov as a part of  a #333 Rinaldi Racing 488 crew took fourth place in the Silver Cup class and sixteenth in the overall standings.


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The fourth round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, the Total 24 Hours of Spa race, will take place on July 25-28 in Belgium.
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