Adam Christodoulou was left to rue what might have been after finishing just one second outside the points in the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Cup at Silverstone.

The Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 the Englishman shared with Hubert Haupt and Andreas Simonsen was due to start from 17th when it did not start on the dummy grid. So Haupt had to take the start from the pitlane on cold rubber that hadn’t been warmed up properly. Despite this, the German made excellent progress in the opening stint, charging from 52nd on the grid to 24th by the time he handed over to Simonsen, who had climbed into the top 15 when Christodoulou took over for the final stint.

However, a congested pitlane meant Simonsen couldn’t get his car close enough to the fuel rig and resulted in a slow stop which cost the team several positions to the cars around them. A Safety Car helped bunch the field up again, but a slow-moving Ferrari that didn’t catch up to the back of the train repeatedly delayed the start and cost Christodoulou an estimated five additional racing laps.

Once the race eventually went green again, the AMG driver was able to work his way through to 11th, but ran out of time to make a pass on the Attempto Racing Lamborghini for the final points-paying position.

“I’ve got mixed emotions after this race because I was happy with my performance and how the car felt, but at the same time it was frustrating because we definitely didn’t get the result we deserved,” said Christodoulou. “The pitstops weren’t very smooth due to the traffic which cost us time, but the real story of the race was unfortunately we had to start from the pitlane, which meant we were at a disadvantage straight away.”

“My team-mates both did a really good job and I enjoyed some really intense battles, it’s just a shame that we missed out on getting points at my home circuit by one second, but we’ll keep learning and improving as the season goes on. I’d also like to extend my congratulations to our sister car with Maro Engel, Miguel Toril and Oliver Morley; they had a great race and got into the lead on the last lap, to take the win in the Pro-Am category, so well done to them and to Black Falcon.”

Next Race : Nurburgring 24 hours 28th – 29th May

Christodoulou’s next race is at the Home of German Motorsport, for his biggest challenge of the season, The Nurburgring 24 hours, on May 28th-29th, the ultimate race that tests man and machine.