LAKEVILLE, CT, USA – Bentley Team Absolute’s Adderly Fong and factory ‘Bentley Boy’ Vince Abril continued their strong form in the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Championship at Connecticut’s Lime Rock Park last weekend.
The duo equalled their best result of the championship with a fourth place finish in Saturday’s 60-minute race, repeating the same result they scored the previous weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Hong Kong-based Fong and Monaco’s Abril had also looked set for a strong result in the opening race on Friday before being spun by another car that was actually two laps down.
Fong and Abril fought back to score a ninth place finished in the opening race on Friday.
In the Pro/Am class, Yufeng Luo and Bentley newcomer Andre Couto finished sixth and fifth in the two races at Lime Rock aboard the No. 78 entry.
Luo was looking set for his third podium finish in three race weekends before being handed a penalty for contact while running second in Saturday’s race. Luo currently sites in third place in the Pro/Am points with five races remaining.
VINCE ABRIL CONTINUES HIS NON-STOP RACE SCHEDULE
‘Bentley Boy’ and factory racer Vince Abril is collecting plenty of frequent flier miles in 2017.
The Lime Rock race was Abril’s sixth consecutive contest aboard Bentley GT3 Continental race cars on two continents.
Abril is combining his efforts for Bentley Team Absolute in the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX Championship with his factory duties for Bentley Motorpsort in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint and Endurance Cup in Europe.
Next weekend he returns to Bentley Motorsport for the latest Blancpain Sprint round at Zolder in Belgium.
In the past six weeks Abril has contested the Monza Blancpain Endurance Cup event, SprintX at VIR, Blacnpain Sprint at Brands Hatch, Blancpain Endurance At Silverstone, SprintX at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and last weekend’s SprintX at Lime Rock Park.
“Overall, I think we can be pretty happy with where we finished in the race. We started eighth on a track where you can’t really overtake, so finishing fourth is a pretty great achievement,” Abril said.
“We’re still fighting and grabbing some important points for the championship. So, now I’m off to Zolder, next week, for my seventh back to back race.”
That’s a lot of air miles – in fact ‘as the crow flies’ that is 15,691.49 miles from circuit to circuit in seven weeks! Abril’s ‘high-flying’ schedule will be featured in the Lime Rock broadcast to be shown on CBS Sports Network on Sunday June 4, at 5:30 p.m. (Eastern).
The Monaco-based racer was interviewed for the program prior to Saturday’s second SprintX race.
FONG AND LUO SET THEIR SIGHTS ON ROAD AMERICA
After three consecutive Pirelli World Challenge SprintX rounds, Bentley Team Absolute drivers Adderly Fong and Yufeng Luo will set their sights on Road America for the next round of the championship.
This year’s championship features five SprintX rounds which feature a pair of 60 minute races with a driver change, plus five traditional World Challenge events where there is a single driver in the car for the 50 minute race.
Wisconsin’s Road America is one of the longest circuits on the Pirelli World Challenge and a venue which has been a happy hunting ground for Bentley. Fong last year finished second and third in the two races and the Bentley Continental GT3 has been a winner here in the past.
“We got very close to putting the No. 88 Bentley on the podium in Canada and Lime Rock, but I’m really looking forward to the next round at Road America,” Fong said.
“The car was very strong there last year and I’m confident we’ll be extremely competitive again. It is very fast and flowing circuit which is really a joy to drive and I can’t wait to get back there.”
The Road America round will be held next month on June 23-25.
COUTO IMPRESSES IN BENTLEY DEBUT AT LIME ROCK PARK
It was his first ever race in a Bentley Continental GT3, his first Pirelli World Challenge event and his first race in the USA since karting – but that didn’t stop Andre Couto from impressing in his debut at Lime Rock Park.
The Macau-based, Portugese racer drove with Yufeng Luo at Lime Rock and was quickly on the pace aboard the Bentley.
Cuoto won the 2015 Japanese Super GT GT300 class and also is a past winner of the most prestigious Formula 3 race in the world – his hometown event, the Macau Grand Prix.
Other Macau winners include Grand Prix greats Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard plus last weekend’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Takuma Sato.
Source : world-challenge.com
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