London, U.K. – Felix Serralles endured a bittersweet weekend at Silverstone for the second round of the 2017 Blancpain GT Endurance Cup, as the #88 car started on pole and finished P11 due to a penalty from race control.

Having delivered one of the best drives of his career at Brands Hatch just one week prior, Serralles has been on great form behind the wheel of the #88 Mercedes AMG GT3 alongside fellow AMG teammates Daniel Juncadella and Tristan Vautier. Silverstone is a circuit that Serralles has contested many times before and is of great personal importance for the Puerto Rican who attests that the U.K. feels like his second home.

For the second weekend in a row, the #88 car was the fastest Mercedes on the grid at Silverstone. Serralles went eleventh fastest during his qualifying session, but Juncadella could go better in the final qualifying session of the morning to place the car on pole position for Sunday afternoon’s 3-hour endurance race.

The format of the team’s driver change plan consisted of Serralles starting the race, Juncadella running the middle stint and Vautier completing the race. Serralles consequently inherited the pole of Juncadella and would lead the pack of 55 cars for the rolling start used under the regulations of the Endurance Cup.

After the chaotic collisions which ensued the rolling start of the first round in Monza, Serralles approached the start at Silverstone with particular caution, closely monitoring his speed during the run up to the start light gantry. The #88 and #63 Lamborghini tapped sides and the race start was aborted. At the restart, the #63 driven by Mirko Bortolotti made a more aggressive start and succeeded in passing Serralles into Turn 1.

After the opening laps of the race, Serralles held a gap of +4.5s behind the Lamborghini and was controlling the pace of the HTP Mercedes and the AF Corse Ferrari running in P3 and P4 respectively.

The first safety car interval was triggered by a damaged and stranded McLaren 25 minutes into the race. At the restart, Serralles was not threatened for position and pushed hard in the subsequent laps to keep the #63 Lamborghini within +3.0s of him, while the #50 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi closed in just a second a behind after 40 minutes of race distance.

With 10 minutes of his stint still to complete, Serralles was informed of a 1-minute stop-and-go time penalty issued to him by race control for the contact which occurred during the first attempt of the rolling start between the #88 and the #63. With the order given, the Puerto Rican had to box without delay. Once Juncadella rejoined the circuit after the driver change pit stop, the #88 was trailing in P36, +54s behind the lead car.

Despite a podium finish being unrealistic following the penalty, Juncadella drove a great stint and was able to hand over the car to Vautier in a position much further up the road than at the start of his stint. In fact, with a final hour of racing to go, Vautier entered the circuit in P13. He would later complete two successful overtakes in a great battle for position and attempt to defend the charge from the #14 Emil Frey Jaguar who managed to round out the Top 10, just one place ahead of Vautier.

Speaking about his weekend, Serralles said:

“Overall it was turning out into a great weekend. I was really happy with the car and we have the pace from day one.

“Starting from pole I guess is a new challenge and has to be done a certain way. But we managed to recover. We showed that we are quick and I was able to maintain my position for the duration of my stint. It’s just a shame with the call [from race control], but that’s racing. I’m ready for Zolder!”

The fifth event of the 2017 Blancpain GT Series takes place from 3-4 June at the Dutch circuit of Zolder for the third round of the Sprint Cup.