Bentley Motorsport team has finished on the podium in its first race on the home turf after 84 years at Silverstone.
The M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 driven by Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane won the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series, despite incurring a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement early in the race.
Rolf Frech, member of the board for engineering at Bentley, said: “We knew our Continental GT3 was a potential race winner, but to finish first in only the car’s second race in the series feels very special.
"Bentley has a history of winning, and today we’ve written the start of the next chapter in our long history. The victory today is the result of an outstanding effort by the whole team, and is the reward for a great deal of hard work since the first round at Monza.”
The race car, based on the Continental GT V8 coupé, is built by the Bentley Motorsport team in conjunction with M-Sport, Malcolm Wilson's Cumbrian-based motorsport preparation company.
A more focused V8-powered Bentley Continental Supersports road car could be signed off for production to tie-in with the motor racing effort.
Silverstone was Bentley Motorsport's first official race in the British Isles since the RAC Tourist Trophy at Ards near Belfast on 23 August 1930. Tazio Nuvolari won for Alfa Romeo, with the top Bentley Blower of Herbert Kensington Moir in eleventh position.