Positive End To Blancpain Endurance Series Campaign For Ecurie Ecosse

Ecurie Ecosse Powered By Black Bull’s Alasdair McCaig, Devon Modell and Oliver Bryant brought their 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series campaign to a positive conclusion by overcoming a tough outing to score points at the Nurburgring yesterday (September 20).

Indeed, the legendary Scottish squad were pleased to bring their somewhat challenging season to a close by finishing 10th in class around the historic German venue’s GP configuration.

Mixed conditions during Sunday morning’s qualifying saw Ecurie Ecosse send Modell out first to bank an early quick lap, which he did by going second fastest in Pro Am. McCaig then bedded in a second set of slick Pirellis during a drizzly Q2, which subsequently restricted Bryant to just one new set during his all-important third segment that featured other drivers running two fresh sets.

That meant the Barwell Motorsport-run BMW Z4 GT3 began the three-hour contest 38th overall and 16th in a Pro Am class that has proven highly competitive all season. First man aboard Modell made a relatively tentative start, initially staying out of trouble before making real headway later on in his stint. Hoping to maximise the optimum pit window also saw him stay out during the first Safety Car period while others took the chance to stop.

With the car running an impressive 14th after making up a huge number of positions, Modell handed over to McCaig. Unfortunately a wheel nut issue delayed the Scot in the pits for longer than desired, which lost the car several places.

But a stunning drive from McCaig saw him battle his way back up the field and make up for lost time. For the third stint he handed over to Bryant, who continued to climb up the order over the final stages of the race. His progress was only halted by the #4 Team WRT Audi driven by Sacha Bottemanne, with whom he battled right to the end, before crossing the line 10th in class and 28th overall.

Alasdair McCaig: “It's been fantastic to give the Z4 a proper send-off at the Nurburgring. I had a solid stint in the race and made my way up the Pro Am order. I would like to thank all of our sponsors over the last four years whilst racing the BMW. A special mention must go to Barwell Motorsport for doing such a sterling job with the car during our Ecurie Ecosse partnership. We look forward to exploring new opportunities for the 2016 season.”

Devon Modell: “The start was a bit disappointing but keeping out of trouble was the main aim through the tricky first complex and then it was a case of settling into a rhythm and working our way up the order. Overtaking was really tricky; you had to use the cars strengths and plan ahead in order to capitalise on others’ mistakes. Al drove a mega middle stint and Olly was really unfortunate in getting stuck behind the errant Audi, which ultimately cost us an even better result. However, getting points for the team hopefully pays them back for all the hard work they have put in throughout the year.”

Oliver Bryant: “It's been a tough season in the fiercely competitive Pro Am class. To finish in the points at the finale was a decent result given the level of competition, but getting stuck behind the #4 Audi halted my progress through the pack. Nevertheless I enjoyed my battles and all three of us managed to pull off some quality overtakes today. Once again many thanks to Barwell Motorsport for another top job and it's been great to have such strong support from BMW Motorsport over the last four years.”

Mark Lemmer, Barwell Motorsport Team Principal: “I have to say it feels good to be back in the points with the old Z4. It's been a great car and the boys, once again, drove hard to achieve the highest-placed result for a Z4 in the Pro Am class today. We've had another strong season and have progressed well this year with Devon joining on board as well. With our now famous Ecurie Ecosse Z4 destined for John Clark's car collection, we will turn our focus to the Huracán GT3 for next season.”

With both its Blancpain Endurance Series and British GT programmes drawing to a close over the past two weeks, Ecurie Ecosse’s focus now switches to 2016, an announcement about which will be made in due course.