Podium position for Christodoulou in Spa 12 hours

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / Endurance, News, Race Update / Career, news / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou marked his first competitive outing in the Mercedes-AMG GT4 last weekend with a podium finish, claiming second in class and sixth overall at the 12H Spa-Francorchamps.

Having assisted in the development of the new 4.0 litre V8-powered GT4,
Christodoulou was invited to join up with his regular Team Black Falcon outfit for a guest outing in the 24H Touring Car Endurance Series and was immediately on the pace, leading the 48-car field on three separate occasions before delays with an unscheduled stop costing five laps.

With plenty of running still to be conducted before it goes on sale at the end of the year,Christodoulou was delighted with the pace shown by the Mercedes-AMG GT4 during what was essentially a 12-hour test session under race conditions, and believes the car is well on course to be a success in in the ultra-competitive GT4 landscape.

This weekend was all about putting mileage on the car to make sure we have plenty of data to understand more about it and all three cars made it to the end of the 12 Hours, which shows that the reliability is strong,” said Christodoulou.

“It was important to get feedback from drivers of all different experience levels because the GT4 is generally for those less experienced drivers coming up through the categories that are eventually going to be reaching GT3 or faster in the end. Some of them have been involved through AMG Customers Sports as customers already and we also had some new drivers in some of the other cars, but their feedback was very positive, which definitely bodes well for the future.”

In typically unseasonal October rain, the Briton would share driving duties of the No. 2 car with Saud Al Faisal and Spanish brothers Miguel and Alex Toril.

However, having four drivers would prove something of a disadvantage in qualifying, because series rules dictate that all drivers must complete at least two laps prior to the race in order to take part. But with just 60 minutes of track time split between a 40 minute practice session and 20 minutes of qualifying, so there wasn’t much time to waste.

Due to the foul conditions and Code 60s which extended each lap, Alex Toril only managed to complete his mandatory laps at the very end of qualifying, but his efforts were still enough for third on the grid.

“To do two flying laps around there means you actually have to do four laps, including the in and outlaps,” explained Christodoulou.

“Four laps in the wet takes around 12 minutes, so it wasn’t going to be possible to do the four drivers in the 40 minutes of practice anyway. But we also had two Code 60s during the practice as well, and a Code 60 means it takes seven minutes to do a lap, so Alex didn’t get in until the end of qualifying. He didn’t get a chance to really push, but lots of people were in the same boat.”

Christodoulou took the start on Saturday afternoon and immediately dispatched the leading TCR class entry to begin a nip-and-tuck battle with the identical HTP Motorsport test car driven by AMG legend Bernd Schneider, with whom Christodoulou won the 24 Hours of Nurburgring in 2016. After taking the lead from Schneider’s Mercedes-AMG at La Source, both cars were passed by Erik Janis in the RTR Projects KTM, which came on strong as the track dried.

But a well-timed switch to slick tyres during a Code 60 period – during which time he was lapping 15 seconds faster than anybody else – cycled Christodoulou back to the head of the pack after two hours, when he handed over to Saud. After three hours, the cars were placed into parc ferme for the overnight halt, with the Black Falcon Mercedes just under two minutes behind.

The field was neutralised in time for the remaining nine hours on Sunday morning, although the absence of the KTM through mechanical dramas meant Christodoulouwould have a clear run into the lead. With around half an hour of fuel in the tank, the Briton continued out front for another double stint before handing over to Miguel, who had suffered from a virus for much of the weekend.

After Toril’s single-stint in the worsening rain was complete, his brother Alex took the car over, but with four hours to go, an incident involving a slower car forced the team to relinquish their two lap lead and go to the garage for repairs to the left-front corner. Re-joining three laps down, fought hard to gain the time back but ran out of time to catch the class-leading Mercedes-AMG GT4 from the Uwe Alzen Motorsport stable and settled for second in class.

Although the end result didn’t live up to its earlier promise, Christodoulou believes the weekend met all objectives from a development standpoint.

“We definitely proved how good the car can be once it goes on sale for customers,” he concluded.
“We’re not allowed to use tyre warmers, which isn’t so much of a problem in Dubai as it is at Spa when its 7 degrees in the wet – but everyone seemed to love the car in the wet conditions, they all felt very comfortable with it.

“It’s proved to be very quick and we were very happy with the performance. It’s a shame we didn’t get many dry laps but I’ve really enjoyed being back behind the wheel after the 30 hour test that we did earlier in the year and seeing how it’s improved since then.”

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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).

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Christodoulou wins Pro-Am class in VLN 6

Posted By Adam Christodoulou / AMG, VLN / AMG, Career, VLN / No Comments

Adam Christodoulou led Team Black Falcon to a Pro-Am class victory in the seventh round of the VLN Endurance Series at the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Sharing his usual Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Abdulaziz al-Faisal and Erik Johansson, the 2016 Nurburgring 24 Hour winner navigated changeable conditions to secure class honours and a creditable sixth place overall in the 17-car SP9 field.

The Pro-Am win capped off a positive weekend for Christodoulou, whose primary focus was to develop a further understanding of the Dunlop tyre and welcome new teammate Johansson.

“Erik tested with us in the previous VLN but only on the Grand Prix circuit, so this was his first ever GT3 race on the Nordschleife and I thought he did a great job,” explainedChristodoulou.

“Like everybody else, he’s out there to make a name for himself and I think he did himself extremely proud.

“Aziz did a great job as well, his best times and race pace were right in the ball park. It was one of his best performances yet, which was really encouraging. Unfortunately during the race there was some minor contact that damaged the steering and allowed the Muecke car to take fifth on the final lap, but we still ended up sixth overall and it didn’t affect our Pro-Am win which was our ultimate goal for the weekend.”

Christodoulou was left frustrated during qualifying by a Code 60 in qualifying which cost him a clear lap when track conditions were at their best. The 27 year old had been second earlier in the session running on intermediates, but as the track dried and times tumbled,Christodoulou’s best lap was stymied by oil left from Brunchen to the Stefan Bellof Curve.

Rather than a potential front-row grid slot, he would instead have to make his way forward from 12th, turning the race into a recovery exercise.

“Qualifying was disappointing because I was set for being in the low 8 minutes on the predicted time but ended up losing eight seconds with the oil – I was just concerned with keeping it on track,” he said.

Tasked with getting the team back into contention, Christodoulou drove a committed opening double stint up to fifth position and was impressed by the Dunlop consistency underneath him despite the typically tricky Eiffel weather.

“It’s the second time I’ve been on the Dunlop and it really does transform the car,” he reported.

“I found that I was able to rotate the car a lot better although it felt a little looser, so you have to have the confidence to push it and to know that it’s going to stick.”

Although he narrowly missed out on the honour of being the first Mercedes home by 0.52 seconds, Christodoulou was pleased with the final outcome.

“All in all everyone is extremely happy to bring home a win in class,” he added.

“Both of my team-mates did an awesome job, the strategy from Black Falcon was the correct one throughout the day and we showed really good pace compared to what we’ve had before this season, which is very positive and shows we’re heading in the right direction.”

Next up for Christodoulou is the final British GT round of the season at Donington Park (23-24 September), where he will again team up with Richard Neary and the Team ABBA by Rollcentre Racing outfit in pursuit of a first British GT podium of the season.

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Christodoulou takes determined top 10 finish in Spa 24 Hours

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

Adam Christodoulou banished the painful memories of his late DNF from the 2016 Total 24 Hours of Spa by taking a top 10 finish on his return to the Belgian endurance classic with Mercedes-AMG Team Black Falcon.

Joined by regular team-mates Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz for the pinnacle of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, the 2016 Nurburgring 24 Hour winner starred in the changeable conditions of the early morning to put the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 into podium contention, but eventually came home eighth after cutting a tyre on debris which forced the team into making an unscheduled stop.

Nevertheless, 28-year-old Christodoulou was pleased to equal his best result in the world’s oldest endurance event, first held at Spa-Francorchamps in 1924, and register points in the world’s toughest GT3 series for just the second time this season.

“After last year where we managed all but the final 26 minutes, to finish the 24 hours is an achievement in itself and to finish eighth is a great achievement as well,” saidChristodoulou.

“It equals my highest finish in the 24 hours from 2013, but the championship has grown a lot since then and the competition is three or four times harder.

“With around eight hours to go, it looked like we have had a shot at getting to the podium, but it just slipped through our fingers with safety cars that didn’t play into our hands, and we had a puncture as well which dropped us down a lap. But in the end there were only 35 cars that finished, which shows just how hard it was.”

Christodoulou focused on race setup in Qualifying on Thursday, but despite this only narrowly missed out on a place in the Superpole, as a record 36 cars were separated by less than a second. However, a productive warmup on Friday evening suggested the Mercedes-AMG GT3 would be a force to be reckoned with over the longer runs and meant he was high on confidence heading into the race.

From 22nd on the grid, Buurmann had gained 11 places by the end of the first hour and handed over to Stolz on the fringes of the top ten. Stolz, who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Saturday, kept the team on the lead lap before Christodoulou climbed in for his first of four double stints approaching nightfall.

More consistent, mistake-free driving from his team-mates lifted the Mercedes-AMG to seventh by Christodoulou’s next stint in the early hours, which proved the most difficult of the entire race as the heavens opened in the Ardennes.

The Briton was one of only three drivers who elected not to come in for wet tyres in the worsening conditions, but his instincts proved to be correct as the track soon dried, saving the team an extra pitstop and raising the possibility that a podium could be on the cards.

“It was awesome fun to be out on slicks in the wet,” Christodoulou reflected.

“I knew from previous experience that Spa is quite grippy when it does rain and it tends to dry quickly as well. In GT4 a few years ago I started a wet race on slicks and at the end of the half-hour race, we were the quickest car on track.

“It was about weighing up risk – every pitstop will cost you almost a full lap at Spa, so it’s weighing up whether coming in to put on the rain tyres gains you that lap back. We took the gamble to stay on slicks and we also used the opportunity to do our mandatory technical stop during that period while everyone was circulating at a reduced pace, which was definitely the right strategy at that time.”

Although the puncture had thwarted any hope of a podium by sunrise, Christodoulou was proud of Team Black Falcon’s effort and application at the finish, with one round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup remaining at Barcelona on October 1.

“All the guys in Black Falcon and AMG did an awesome job, Yelmer and Luca were on fire all weekend and did a perfect performance,” he said.

“The same goes for the crew, every pitstop was executed perfectly. You can really see where everyone has been fine-tuning and working hard to get the best out of every opportunity.”

Christodoulou reserved special praise for the Pro-Am winning No. 16 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Oliver Morley, Miguel Toril, Marvin Kirchhoefer and Maxi Goetz.

“I’d also like to give a huge congratulate to Oliver, Miguel, Marvin and Maxi on their Pro-Am win, it’s a really special achievement,” he added.

“I’ve worked with Oliver the last few years doing bits of coaching, we’ve been here to Spa a few times and it’s great to see all the hard work pay off for them boys, well deserved.”

There’s no rest for Adam Christodoulou as this weekend is the next round of the British GT at Brands hatch 5th – 6th August.

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