Race Update

06

Oct 2017

Christodoulou caps Blancpain GT season with top-five finish

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

Adam Christodoulou scored the best result of his Blancpain GT Series career with a fine fifth place finish in the final race of the year at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain.

Sharing the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz, Christodoulou put a season of bad luck behind him to register his second points score in as many rounds, after a gutsy drive to eighth in the Spa 24 Hours in July.

The 28-year-old Briton enjoyed a fraught battle with fellow AMG factory driver Maxi Buhk over fourth position for the duration of his stint, but despite losing out to the German on the final lap, was delighted to end the year with his best result of the season.

“Of course Paul Ricard would have been better as we were set for a podium there until the driveshaft went, but it was really good to finish off on a high and have a weekend where things went our way,” reflected Christodoulou.

“It was a fun race, but that one hour stint felt like three! I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed to have lost fourth on the last lap, but in general, our pace all weekend was very positive.”
In damp, overcast conditions atypical for the Spanish Grand Prix venue, Stolz topped the first qualifying group, while Christodoulou improved to go second in his session. When the track was at its fastest in Q3, Buurman was delayed by traffic, but still managed an excellent 10th in the 49-car field.

With the track fully dry for the start, the Dutchman made a good getaway to run seventh on the opening lap, despite contact from Marco Seefried’s Jaguar that forced him to run wide at turn four. Due to a Stuart Leonard’s Audi bottling up the pack, Buurman had to balance his designs on sixth place with a wary eye on his mirrors, but Black Falcon cleverly optimised the strategy by pitting the car on lap 27, enabling Stolz to emerge in clear air and undercut his rivals on fresh rubber.

Having vaulted up to fifth, the German capitalised on a mistake from Will Stevens’ Audi at the turn nine hairpin to take fourth before handing over to Christodoulou for the final dash to the finish.
The Briton initially held ambitions of taking third away from champion-elect Mirko Bortolotti’s Lamborghini, but a few laps stuck in traffic allowed Borolotti to make a break and Buhk’s identical Mercedes-AMG GT3 to close in. The two cars circulated as one for the final half hour, but Christodoulou’s hopes of fourth were dashed on the final lap when traffic allowed Buhk to sneak by.

“It’s always better to be the chasing car when you’re in traffic as the lead car has to slow down and anticipate what the backmarkers are going to do,” explained Christodoulou.

“Unfortunately I just made the wrong decision of where to overtake them, but that’s how it goes sometimes when the field is so closely matched, you don’t get a moment to relax. It’s definitely been a testing season for us, but we showed that when things go our way, we can be really strong.
“The pitstops were absolutely nailed perfectly and everybody on the team did a great job to move us forward five spots from where we started. I’d like to offer my thanks to everyone at Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon for their hard work all season and I’m already looking forward to coming back next year to fight for our first Blancpain GT Series win.”

Christodoulou’s next race will be his first competitive outing in the new Mercedes-AMG GT4 at the Spa 2x6H next weekend (October 7-8).

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

25

Mar 2017

Adam Christodoulou returns to defend Nürburgring 24 title

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / News, Nurburgring, Race Update / AMG, Career, Mercedes, news, Nurburgring / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou will mark his second year as an official AMG driver by re-joining Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon to defend his historic victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours (May 27-28).

The 28-year-old became only the fourth British driver to win the twice-around-the-clock classic last year, as the new Mercedes-AMG GT3 swept the top four positions around the fearsome 24.358km Nordschleife circuit.

Read More