Time for Bullitt Racing to step up a gear at the Temple of Speed this weekend
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
First time out at Le Castellet and then at Imola, the #99 Bullitt Racing team competed with their Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 for the first time with drivers Stephen Pattrick and Theo Nouet nearly pulling off the dream start in France, just missing out on a class podium finish by the smallest of margins despite the most difficult of starts before completing that job next time in Italy with a class P2 finish there.
Then the series moved back to France for the Series annual visit to the Circuit de La Sarthe for their two ‘Road to Le Mans’ races which this time featured a driver line up of Pattrick and Valentin Hasse-Clot.
There, the car proved to be super quick with Hasse-Clot claiming class pole position for the Thursday evening 110minute race, but for some unfortunate shenanigans on the opening lap (breaking out the Safety Car) and then a pit lane speed violation at the halfway mark (with the resulting drive through penalty), that saw the Pattrick/Hasse-Clot combo take a lowly class finish in seventh for their troubles.
The Saturday race however proved to be more successful after another Safety Car affected race saw Pattrick complete an error free stint before handing the car back to the young Frenchman to see out their Le Mans adventure. After a further Safety Car intervention towards the end, Hasse-Clot needed just the last lap of the 8.5-mile circuit to claim his first podium of the Le Mans Cup Series and Pattrick’s second with their third-place finish in the GT3 class.
These sequence of results leaves the #99 car third in both the Team’s and Driver’s Championship tables (for Pattrick), just fourteen points behind the leaders going into the round at Monza.
Thirty-seven cars compete again this weekend including the seven cars that make up the GT3 class. Nothing yet has been said about any Balance of Performance changes going into this round after the Aston Martin lost turbo boost across its range going into Le Mans but that will continue until further notice by the sanctioning body.
