#BLANCPAINGT – Toni Forné aims at first podium at the 1000km of Castellet

The Girona native is back to drive the Car Collection Motorsport-run Audi R8 LMS in Le Castellet, which hosts the third round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. Forné will be teaming up with German drivers Stippler and Parhoffer, the latter recovered from the injuries sustained in private testing ahead of Silverstone round.

Toni Forné will head to southern France for the third round of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, which is one of the most iconic races on the calendar: the 6 hours of Paul Ricard. The circuit, located in the Provence-Alps-Côte d’Azur area, is a famous layout and home of the French F1 Grand Prix next June. Earlier, the Paul Ricard circuit will host another exciting round of the main European GT series.

Forné will be driving the Audi R8 LMS of Car Collection Motorsport in which he kicked the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup season off at Monza last April. There, Toni delivered to put in strong runs to fight for a Pro-Am Cup podium teaming up with Dimitri Parhofer and Frank Stippler. After the Italian venue, Parhoffer had an accident while carrying out a private testing ahead of Silverstone, which prevented Forné and Car Collection Motorsport from taking part at Britain’s round. With Parhoffer recovered from the injuries, the Walluf based team will enter its revised Audi R8 LMS in which it’s the second longest race of the season after the Spa 24 hours.

“I’m delighted to be racing again as we showed our excellent pace at Monza. We were able to keep fighting with leaders in the Pro-Am Cup and just a few issues dashed our podium chances at season’s curtain-raiser event. But we still feel more prepared for Le Castellet” explains Forné. He underlines: “I’m pleased joining Dimitri and Frank once again. It’s a longer race than usual, so it emphasis the strategy. With more than fifty cars on the grid, we will have to deal with the traffic, and our main goal is to avoid making mistakes. Of course, the entry list is extremely strong in our class again with drivers such as Seb Morris, Fabrizio Crestani, Luca Ludwig, Andrea Bertolini or Matt Griffin. At the same time, we are aware that we will be strong contenders for them as well!”

Saturday’s qualifying session is scheduled at 09.40 (CET) with the six-hour race starting at 17.45 (CET) to finish minutes before midnight. The race is broadcasted live on YouTube.