Friday, May 24, 2013

British GT: Audi teams eager to do well at Silverstone 500


By Tarek Ramchani

Silverstone is hosting the third round of the British GT Championship this weekend. A very special 3-hour endurance event and an impressive entry list. Three Audi R8 LMS and ultra cars will be there aiming to do well.

United Autosports drivers Mark Patterson and Matt Bell, the drivers of the #25 Audi R8 LMS ultra, are now second overall in the points standings. The two drivers have 42.5 points, only half a point behind the series leaders David Ashburn and Nick Tandy, with the Trackspeed Porsche. Last time out at Rockingham Patterson and Bell ended in a strong third place after the two-hour race.


The second Audi R8 LMS ultra car is from M-Sport. The World Rally Championship specialists had a very strong Rockingham round. Rembert Berg and Warren Hughes finished the race in second with their #10 Audi. At Silverstone the Scottish based team will again fight for strong points. Rembert and Hughes are now fifth overall with 27 points, not bad as they were not classified for points in the first round at Oulton Park.

PE Group Blendini Motorsport will field the third Audi, an older specification R8 LMS. Dom Evans and Tom Roche will be the drivers of the #11 R8 LMS. At Rockingham they finished in seventeenth place.

The Silverstone 500 event will have live coverage on Motors TV. No less than 48 cars will enter the race, with a format similar to the one used in the Blancpain Endurance Series. As was the case in the first two rounds, the Audi squad will have to fight hard against a great quality field of GT3 cars. The Trackspeed Porsche 997 GT3 R cars will be the ones to beat.

Photo credit: British GT Championship