Shane Van Gisbergen helped Von Ryan Racing to victory in the final round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at the Nurburgring.
The McLaren 650S trio of Van Gisbergen, Rob Bell and Kevin Estre emerged as the class of the field as they scythed their way through the pack having started from a lowly 24th on the grid.
Impressive opening stints from Bell and V8 Supercars star Van Gisbergen saw the McLaren rapidly climb up the order as they took advantage of pitting under the two Safety Car periods.
An off schedule pit strategy resulted in Estre emerging in the lead for the final hour of the race.
The Frenchman was largely unchallenged for the remaining laps as he surged to the chequered flag to score Von Ryan Racing’s second victory of the campaign.
The battle for the podium spots proved to be hard fought with the Pro Cup Drivers’ and Teams’ titles up for grabs.
M Sport’s #7 Bentley Continental GT3 and the Team RJN Nissan GT-R squad were locked in a battle for second with both entries in contention for the two championships.
In the end, the Bentley of Guy Smith, Steven Kane and Andy Meyrick took second 14 seconds behind the Von Ryan Racing McLaren.
However, it was not enough to deny Nissan’s Katsumasa Chiyo, Wolfgang Reip and Alex Buncombe from taking the Drivers’ crown as a third place finish saw them take the title by three points.
Stephane Ortelli and Frank Stippler came home in fourth which was enough for the Team WRT Audi squad to secure the Teams’ title with a three point margin over Bentley M-Sport.
Australian Liam Talbot finished fourth in the the Amateur Cup class in the Kessel Racing Ferrari 458 he shared with Stephen Earle and Marco Zanuttini.
The fourth place finish saw Talbot claim third in the Amateur Cup drivers standings in his first season in the category.
VIDEO: Race Highlights
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