Abnormal weather conditions today at Silverstone where the teams and drivers in the Blancpain Endurance Series were greeted by the sun and blue skies, whilst elsewhere in Europe ski resorts are considering to re-open this weekend after heavy snow in the Alps. And yes it’s almost June and summer is apparently approaching.
Even though temperatures are below average at this time of the year, the number of cars entered for the Silverstone round of the 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series is higher than ever. In 2011 29 cars raced at Silverstone, in 2012 there were 53 cars in the race and on Friday the entry list had 59 cars on it, with just one question mark at the moment.
The biggest story of the weekend is the addition of the Aston Martin Racing Vantage for Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Fred Makowiecki in the Pro category. Aston Martin Racing’s Team Principal John Gaw explained the decision to enter the works car for the Silverstone round. “The Blancpain Endurance Series is a highly competitive, with many strong teams and driver line-ups. We are, of course, entering with the aim of finishing as high as possible, if not at the front in each of the classes, at our home event.”
“The factory Vantage GT3 performed faultlessly at the Nürburgring 24 Hours and we appreciate the ongoing support from our partners including Bilstein and Immun’age to enable us to enter this additional car in the Pro class where we have no customers racing at this round.”
“Bringing the WEC drivers to support both our customer and our reserve drivers seems a smart thing to do as we will be able to share any lessons as well as sharpen the focus of the factory team and drivers just before we head to Le Mans, one of the most important races of the year.”
Next to the official AMR entry the Silverstone grid will see guest entries by Barwell Motorsport (Pro-Am) and PGF-Kinfaun AMR (Gentlemen Trophy). Both teams raced at Silverstone last weekend in the third round of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship.
Duncan Tappy makes his return to the series in the Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 at Silverstone. Tappy was initially entered in the ART Grand Prix McLaren at Monza, but was replaced by Mike Parisy before the weekend started. The 28-year old will now replace Robert Hissom alongside Oliver Morley and Andrii Lebed in the #19 Mercedes. As a result the car will be in the Pro-Am category and not the Gentlemen Trophy anymore.
Still in the Gentlemen Trophy, but with a changed line-up is the #15 Boutsen Ginion McLaren. Christophe de Fierlant was initially set to race with Marlene Broggi and Karim Ojjeh, but John Hartshorne will replace him this weekend.
Another team that has changed its line-up is Nissan GT Academy Team RJN. At Monza the team’s #35 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 was driven by Lucas Ordonez, Alex Buncombe and Steve Doherty, but at Silverstone Doherty will race in the #32 car with Wolfgang Reip and Mark Shulzhitskiy whilst Peter Pyzera will move from the #32 to the #35.
Ever since seeing the provisional entry lists of the Blancpain Endurance Series and International GT Open for this weekend the question was “where is Kirill Ladygin going to race?” The Russian driver was listed in an SMP Racing Ferrari both at Silverstone and at the Nürburgring, but even can’t be at two places at the same time. The answer came this afternoon when it was announced that Mika Salo would replace Ladygin at Silverstone. The Finn didn’t have the best of starts though as British Airways lost his luggage (on a direct flight) and Salo arrived at the circuit without helmet and race suit.
There are more changes at SMP Racing though as Mihail Aleshin and Daniil Move are back to Formula Renault 3.5 this weekend. Devi Markozov has moved from the #73 to the #71 Ferrari, where he joins Salo and Victor Shaitar. Maurizio Mediani will join the #72 Ferrari and Markozov’s place in the #73 is taken by Luca Persiani.
AF Corse has added the #49 Ferrari 458 Italia for 2012 series regulars and current European Le Mans Series participants Yannick Mallegol, Jean-Marc Bachelier and Howard Blank, whereas Peter Mann will join the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia of Portuguese drivers Filipe Barreiros and Francisco Guedes.
At MTECH Andres Josephsohn and Alejandro Chahwan will join Fabian Taraborelli in the #55 Ferrari 458 Italia. This afternoon that car was the only MTECH Ferrari visible in the Silverstone pit, the #54 Ferrari not present (yet). Earlier this week one of its designated drivers, Stephen Jelley, was signed up by Fortec to race the #62 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 with Ben Hetherington and Ollie Hancock. As the DSC team left the paddock it was still unclear whether or not the car will be entered this weekend, but it seems unlikely it will.
Other changes in line-ups this weekend include the return of Olivier Pla to SMG Challenge, after Monza clashed with the FIA WEC round at Silverstone. Luc Paillard and Bruce Lorgere-Roux join Sport Garage and Morgan Jones joins David and Godfrey Jones in the Preci Spark Mercedes and the team has been moved from the Gentlemen Tropy to Pro-Am. Esteban Gini replaces quick Austrian Philipp Eng in the MRS GT Racing McLaren and last but certainly not least we’ll see Thomas Biagi back in action in an SRO event as he joins ROAL Motorsport.
Notable absentees at Silverstone are the #27 Vita4One Racing Team BMW, the #8 Haribo Racing Team Porsche and the #111 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
The weekend kicks off officially with the Bronze Test at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. We’re also expecting an announcement regarding the 2013 FIA GT Series calendar at some point this weekend.
MtC
