eRacing Magazine Vol. 1 Issue 2. | Page 28

INSIGHT - BENTLEY GT3 CONTINENTAL

happen. There are certainly some things that we can improve on, but these are things we expect, that’s why we do these long tests. We’ve come away from there with a hit-list to improve on in future and luckily it was all relatively small things, which is very encouraging.”

Smith, a Bentley man through and through who was part of the 2003 winning line-up with ‘Mr Le Mans’ Tom Kristensen and the now-retired Dindo Capello, believes that making the finish first time out bodes well for the upcoming season in the Blancpain Endurance Series, which will see the V8-powered Bentley pitched up against the great and good of sports car racing from Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, BMW, McLaren and more.

“These 12 hour and 24 hour races are as hard as they come, where Blancpain is a lot more of a sprint format, so we can be more aggressive,” he said. “We’ve been impressed so far with the performance of the car and I think there’s more to come in terms of fine-tuning. You never stop learning and developing.

"The most important thing with the GT3 being a customer programme is that as well as having a fast car and a reliable car, we want a customer-friendly car, that’s easy for the teams to run and for the gentleman drivers to get in and drive

safely and quickly, which is something

mage courtesy of Bentley Media