Monthly Archives: June 2017

26

Jun 2017

Strong Performance Ends in Heartbreak for Christodoulou in Paul Ricard 1000km

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / AMG, Blancpain, Endurance / Blancpain, Career, news / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou missed out on his best-ever finish in the Blancpain GT Series when mechanical problems struck his No. 4 AMG Team Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG with 30 minutes remaining in the Paul Ricard 1000km.

Together with Luca Stolz and Yelmer Buurman, who qualified the car on pole,Christodoulou was running third in the six-hour prelude to the Spa 24 Hours when he lost drive and was forced to retire the car, costing him a first outright Blancpain GT podium.
“It’s just heart-breaking really to come so close to a result, only to see it slip through our fingers,” said the 28-year-old.

“I just feel sorry for the crew and everyone involved because it looked like we were going to be celebrating last night, but it wasn’t to be.”

Proving his pace in qualifying was no fluke, Buurman built a 1.5 second lead over the 58-strong field by the end of lap one and had increased his margin to 3.5 seconds before the race was neutralised by the safety car on lap eight.
After a brief return to green-flag running, a Full Course Yellow prompted the majority of the field to make an early pitstop, but AMG Team Black Falcon elected to stick with their original plan and stay out until the end of the 65-minute allotted driver time.

Buurman led a pack of four into the pits at the end of their window, with Stolz assuming the controls in 44th position. However another Safety Car meant his deficit to the leaders, due in for their second stops shortly afterwards, was drastically reduced and helped bring the team back into play.

By the end of his 29-lap stint, Stolz had cycled back through to second, beforeChristodoulou climbed aboard for his first stint in 21st position.

The Briton continued the car’s progress through the field as the sun set and executed a fine pass on the No. 2 Audi, which had been stubbornly defending its position for several laps, to get himself into some clear air and chip away the gap to the leading No. 99 BMW, running a similar divergent strategy.
From over 30 seconds, Christodoulou had reduced the margin to 10 seconds when the BMW was forced out of the race, allowing him to lead at half-distance.

“It was a confusing race to follow, which I think was due to us being offset against everyone else,” Christodoulou said.

“There was a lot of discussions trying to figure out whether it would be the right thing to do or not, but we made the decision and stuck with it. I think at one point we ended up on the third page of the timing screens, but as people started to pit we made our way back into the lead.

“It was tough out there in the traffic because we were really strong in the tight and twisty third sector, but it was a little tough to overtake. We weren’t sure where we were going to end up until the final stops were completed, so all we could do was push as hard as we could.”
After pitting on lap 89, Buurman returned to the car inside the top 10 and again cycled through to the lead before handing back to Stolz, now in full darkness, on lap 121.

Stolz resumed in fifth and kept the car in contention as track temperatures dropped before giving the reigns to Christodoulou for the final run to the flag.

Running third and closing on the second-placed No. 72 Ferrari, Christodoulou was feeling positive when the car suddenly lost power at turn 12 and coasted back to the pits into retirement.
“It’s a real shame because we were in third position and things were looking pretty good,”Christodoulou continued.

“It’s extremely unusual because the AMG is known for its durability and being bullet-proof, it’s the first time this has happened.

“We’ve been working extremely hard at Black Falcon and AMG to iron out any problems and optimise our package, but although we didn’t get the result in the end, it was nice to put on an extremely strong performance and it looked like we were going to be the top AMG as well.

“We had a mega qualifying, all of us were quick and at the start of the race we were definitely in control. Everyone knows we were one of the main cars to beat, so it’s definitely given us a good confidence boost heading to Spa and hopefully we can carry the momentum into the 24 Hours.”

Read More

16

Jun 2017

Top five for birthday boy Christodoulou on British GT return

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / Race Update / Abba, Career, Silverstone / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou celebrated his 28th birthday with a top-five finish on his return to the British GT Championship in the blue-ribband Silverstone 500.

On his first British GT outing in the GT3 class and his first of any kind since Donington 2015, Christodoulou shone in the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside Richard Neary and Martin Short and gave the teamits best finish of the year so far, laying down a positive marker for the rest of the British GT campaign.
The AMG driver and former Silverstone instructor put his knowledge of the Grand Prix circuit to good use in free practice one with a blistering lap seven tenths faster than anybody else.

Christodoulou then showed it was no fluke in qualifying, with the fastest time in the Pro class – the best of the entire weekend – With a combined time from both drivers qualifying 6th would be their starting position.

Neary, the 2016 Silverstone 24 Hour winner, took the start and immediately made up two positions around the outside at Copse corner, but lost ground with a spin at Abbey on lap four.

After dropping back to eighth, Christodoulou jumped in for the first of two stints and was soon embroiled in a frantic battle with Callum MacLeod’s Bentley. Battling oversteer in the hot afternoon conditions, Christodoulou defended stoutly and handed over to Short from second position as the pitstops cycled through.
Despite receiving a stop-go penalty for a fractionally too-fastpitstop during the final handover from Short, Christodoulou’s pace during his second stint was such that he was able to resume without losing fifth position, a strong result on Martin Short’s final outing in the championship as a driver.

While disappointed not to give the highly decorated Short one last podium finish,Christodoulou was greatly encouraged by Team ABBA with Rollcentre’s performance heading into the second half of the season, with a trip to the famous Spa-Francorchamps (7-8 July) in Belgium next on the calendar.

“It was a fun weekend, I really enjoyed being back in the British GT Championship,” reported Christodoulou after setting the second fastest time of the race with 12 laps to go.
“There’s obviously an element of mixed emotions, as I was really happy with how the testing and the qualifying went, but the track conditions in the race caught us out a little bit and just lost us a little bit of speed with the car.

“That being said, it was the team’s first top-five finish this year, so hopefully it has created a good foundation for us to work on going to Spa. It was great to work with the team and be a part of the British GT Championship in the GT3 class, so hopefully we can continue making progress and get that first podium that we’re searching for.

“I’d like to say a massive thank you to Martin, Richard and the rest of the Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing team for welcoming me into their team and making me feel at home. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings!”

Read More

07

Jun 2017

Christodoulou to make British GT3 debut with Team ABBA at Silverstone

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / Abba, Race Update, Silverstone / Abba, Career, Silverstone / No Comments

Official AMG Driver Adam Christodoulou will contest the remainder of the 2017 British GT Championship in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by Team ABBA with Rollcentre Racing.

Four years on from his successful British GT debut in his GT4 win at Silverstone in 2013, Christodoulou will make his first appearance in the GT3 class at this weekend’s Silverstone 500, alongside Martin Short and Richard Neary.
The 27-year-old will continue with the team for the rest of the season alongside Neary, the 2016 Silverstone 24 Hour winner, at prestigious circuits including Spa-Francorchamps, Brands Hatch and Donington Park.

It will be Christodoulou’s first time racing regularly on home soil since 2008, when he won the Formula Renault UK 2.0 title with CRS Scuderia.

Following a successful test at the Home of British Motorsport, Christodoulou is confident of making a strong impact on his first outing for Team ABBA, with the RAC Trophy awarded for a 500-mile race at Brooklands in 1932 up for grabs.
“I’m really excited to be racing a GT3 car in British GT for the first time,” commentedChristodoulou, who last raced in the series in 2015.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t possible to do Snetterton because I was racing at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, but Silverstone is a track that we all know well, so we just have to make sure that we make no mistakes and use everything to our advantage.

“Martin has decided to take a step back and be on the pitwall managing for the rest of the season with the GT3, so it’s good with Silverstone being a three hour race that it allows the three of us to race together. Hopefully we can send him off on a high!”
Having run strongly in the top 10 at the recent Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup round at Silverstone, Christodoulou has full confidence that the Mercedes-AMG GT3 will be well-suited to racing on the British circuits and that the car will allow Neary to extract his full potential.

“The British tracks are known for being tighter and more twisty than some of the bigger European tracks that I’ve been racing on these last few years, so we’ll have to see how Silverstone goes and then just continue to work hard,” said Christodoulou.
“We’ve done two tests so far and between the test he did at Snetterton and the race, he made a nice jump forward. We managed to work on the setup and get him to have a little bit more confidence, which was good to see. Hopefully that will only continue as we work together more over the remainder of the season.

“I’m really thankful for the opportunity and looking forward to getting started. Like any driver you want to race as much as possible, and I’m hoping that my experience and knowledge and contacts from AMG helps them with what they’re looking for.”

Read More

02

Jun 2017

Christodoulou Finishes a Fighting Fifth in 2017 Nürburgring 24 Hours

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / AMG, News, Nurburgring / AMG, Career, Nurburgring / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou finished a spirited fifth as the top Mercedes-AMG entrant in the 45thrunning of the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

Sharing the No. 1 Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Maro Engel, Manuel Metzger and Yelmer Buurman, defending event winner Christodoulou came through from 22nd on the grid to secure a top-five finish after 24 Hours of hard racing on the formidable Nordschleife.
Typically, the Eifel circuit served up the full spectrum of conditions during the race, with blistering heat in the early hours of the race on Saturday making life hard for drivers and tyres alike before a heavy rain shower hit with two laps to go, requiring immense skill to keep the car on-track.

After a faultless display from the team, with no penalties or technical problems and clean driving from all four drivers, 27-year-old Christodoulou was satisfied with his performance, but is already looking forward to getting another shot at the victory next year.

“We maximised everything we had, it almost seemed harder to finish fifth this year than to win last year!” he said.
“It was amazing go see the level of competition even higher than last year as all the manufacturers get more and more on-board, it was literally a 24 hour sprint race throughout.

“We have mixed emotions because we always want to go out there and fight for the win, but I’m really happy with everything from our side, all the pitstops were perfect and as drivers we made no mistakes, it was pretty much faultless.

“Now we need to figure out what we can do better for next year to make sure we’re back on the top spot.”
The hot temperatures caught everyone by surprise, not least the tyre manufacturers, which had completed all their pre-race simulations in much cooler conditions.

As a result, the free practice and qualifying sessions were spent focusing on a setup that would reduce the rate of degradation and coax the maximum performance over an eight-lap stint.

Having achieved their goal of reaching the Top-30 Qualifying session and winning the all-important blue light to help warn slower cars of a front-running car in their mirrors, attentions then turned to the race itself.
.
Buurman started the car and made an early pitstop to get out of the traffic and into clear air, which lifted the car into the top 10 by the time Christodoulou climbed aboard on lap 20.

Completing a double stint, Christodoulou made valiant progress in the intense heat to hand over to Engel in fourth, although it was hard work.

“It was unreal, in fact one of our Porsche teams did a single stint and almost passed out,” he said.

“Thankfully in the Mercedes-AMG we’ve got plenty of air flow in the car, but regardless of how fit you are, if you’re cooking like a chicken there isn’t much you can do about it.”
Having enjoyed a well-earned rest, Christodoulou returned to the cockpit just after 3 AM and carried on where he left off by setting competitive times.

“We pretty much double-stinted all the way through, which means the drivers get a bit more rest in between and a bit more down-time,” Christodoulou explained.

“Rather than only having three hours out of the car, you get the full six hours and in that time you can get at least three hours sleep at a time.”
In his final stint at the wheel, Christodoulou set the car’s fastest lap of the race as he built a gap of 40 seconds over the pursuing No. 50 Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Engel then climbed aboard to bring the car to the flag, but the sudden arrival of rain caught everybody by surprise, as the German struggled around the 25.947 km circuit on slick tyres.

“I think we had an opportunity for fourth but the conditions at the very end were very tricky and cost us a bit of time,” said Christodoulou.

Despite this, the car crossed the line safely in fifth place, a result that reflects the progress made by Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon since the new tyre and ride-height rules were introduced at the start of the season.

“From those tough first few races under the new regulations, to finish fifth in the 24 Hours is very satisfying. Even to finish the 24 hours at all is a big achievement,” addedChristodoulou.

“It’s been fun developing the car from race to race and there’s obviously still room for improvement, but I’d like to say a huge thank you to Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon, to all of the AMG guys involved and to my three super-quick team-mates who did a great job all weekend.

“I look forward to coming back next year and trying to take back the title.”

Read More