First Bentley Bentaygas delivered to customers

Bentley Motorsport will contest more than 90 top-level GT races around the world in 2016, as both its works and customer team programmes expand. The Bentley Team M-Sport works outfit will now enter the full Blancpain GT Series. The team has signed 2012 GT Academy Champion and former Nissan works driver Wolfgang Reip to pilot their #8 Continental GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series line-up. He will share driving duties with Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet. When asked why Bentley decided to take on Reip after he was dropped by Nissan, the British firm’s Director of Motorsport, Brian Gush, said that they “look at their toughest competition”, before remarking that “for the last two seasons they have enjoyed some really close battles with Wolfgang so they invited him along to test.” Bentley will also contest the inaugural SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge, which comprises Bathurst 12 Hours, Spa 24 Hours and Sepang 12 Hours. Alongside the works team programme, Bentley Continental GT3s will run in the world’s top national championships; Blancpain Endurance Series; Pirelli World Challenge; GT Asia; ADAC GT Masters and the British GT Championship, with customer and partner teams carefully selected by Gush.

Bentley Motorsport’s works team made its Blancpain Sprint Series Cup debut at Misano, this weekend, and won the first race of the event, putting the #8 Bentley Team M-Sport Continental GT3 on pole for Sunday’s main competition. Andy Soucek (ES) and Maxime Soulet (BE) chose to start Saturday’s one-hour night race on slick tyres, while all but one of the other 38 competitors started on wets, a decision that ultimately won Bentley Team M-Sport its debut Sprint Series Cup race. The victory secured pole position for main race and handed Bentley eight valuable points towards the Blancpain GT Series and Blancpain Sprint Series Cup titles. Meanwhile, the other car, the #7 Continental GT3 of Steven Kane (GB) and defending Sprint Series Cup champion Vince Abril (MO), started the main one-hour race from P20 and finished in P17.

The 16MY Bentley Continental GT Speed has been taken to its top speed of 206 mph (331km/h) by Australian racing legend, john Bowe, on the derestricted Stuart Highway deep in the Northern territory. The 635 PS (626bhp), 820 Nm W12-powered GT Speed Grand Tourer reached Vmax in just 76 seconds, covering a distance of 9.4km in the process.  At top speed, the 6-litre twin-turbo Grand Tourer was covering a staggering 92 meter (or one football pitch) per second.