As the new Bentley standard bearing customer team in Europe there’s no shortage of pressure and expectation on the shoulders of Stuart Parker, Team owner of Team Parker Racing.
The veteran of GT and one-make racing though is taking it in his stride, the team’s Blancpain GT and British GT programmes are well under control.
“We always knew that we’d be stepping up this year after 2 years with the Audi. We knew the car, were learning fast about the Series, and best of all we were winning!
“We spoke to Porsche as you’d expect (Team Parker has a long history of one-make Porsche competition) and to Audi about their new car and we spoke to Bentley too – In fact there were two approaches. Bentley spoke to Ian (Loggie) about possibly buying a car, but I’d spoken to Bentley as far back as 2013 about their programme.
“That was a bit early for us but now the timing, and the package, is just perfect, a real meeting of minds. So far, despite the outward appearance of this being a complex two car, two Series effort it’s all coming together very smoothly.”
From the start it seems the intention was to step up not only with a new car in the Blancpain Series, but to GT3 in British GT as well.
“Absolutely, we were in GT4 last year (below) as a stepping stone, it served our purposes and helped us to understand the environment in the paddock there.
“We’re delighted to have Rick (Parfitt Jr) and Seb (Morris) in the car and I think it will go very well this year.”
The car tested with a very happy Rick Parfitt and Seb Morris at the British GT Media/ Test day this week.
As for the two cars for Blancpain Endurance the line-ups are both set, though the Am car trio remains to be publicly announced:
“We’ll have Ian Loggie, Calum Macleod and Tom Onslow Cole in the Pro-Am car and Derek Pierce and another well established Gentleman ranked pairing in the Am Cup car.
“That’s an attractive package for Bentley because we have strong squads in both of our classes and, when added to the Sport effort, it gives the brand an opportunity for wins in each of the classes!”
The team have two Continental GT3s, the first, delivered in December is chassis #2 (seen by the DSC Editor some weeks before and in such good condition it was mistaken for a brand new car) an ex MSport development car (below), the second, a brand new car, arrived in January, that car will be the Pro-AM entered Bentley.
Beyond the full season 2016 plans there are obvious standalone options elsewhere in GT3 racing, are any on the Team Parker agenda yet?
“We have been looking at winter options and there are some enticing prospects including Abu Dhabi (the Gulf 12 Hours) the Dubai 24 Hours and the Bathurst 12 Hours. No decisions yet but under consideration.
“For now though we are fully focused on the programmes we have. We are 110% happy with our choice of partner in Bentley, and personally its a nice continuation, both my Dad, and my Grandad, had road going Bentleys. This carries on the family tradition very well indeed!”
