Farewell, motoring giant
TEAM PARKER RACING’S BENTLEY PROGRAMME ENDS AFTER FIVE YEARS
AFTER five successful years, Team Parker Racing’s Bentley racing programme came to a close after making its debut appearance at the Gulf 12 Hours Bahrain last weekend.
The race, split into two six-hour halves, looked to be going to plan as Derek Pierce, Euan McKay and Andy Meyrick took the lead towards the end of period one.
But a stop-go penalty at the start in the second half left the trio with too much to do to fight back into the GT3 Pro-Am podium places.
McKay, who spent 2020 racing with the Leicestershire-based team as part of the Bentley Motorsport Academy, started from sixth position and got away well, swooping into second place into turn one.
From then onwards, a series of strong performances from the trio meant the car remained well in contention and when the leading car, a GT3 Pro entry, had problems, Meyrick made a good pass to claim the lead, before falling to fourth at the flag after needing a quick splash of fuel in the closing five minutes.
However, with McKay and Pierce not completing enough time behind the wheel in the opening six hours, McKay had to serve a lengthy stopgo penalty on the opening lap of the second half of the race which dropped the car off the lead lap of the Pro-Am entries and, with performances among the field relatively even, there was little chance of regaining significant ground.
Pushing on to the end of the race however, neither the team nor the drivers gave up, but sadly a finish just outside the class podium places was the best they could hope for, crossing the line fourth in GT3 ProAm and fifth overall.
The chequered flag also brought an end to Team Parker Racing’s time with Bentley motorsport after five years with both generations of its Continental GT3 machine.
First linking up in 2016, Rick Parfitt Jnr and Seb Morris raced to third place in the British GT Championship before claiming the championship title a year later at the team’s local circuit of Donington Park.
The team also fielded cars in what was then the Blancpain GT Series, in both its Sprint and Endurance Cups, as well as continuing on home soil, and upgraded to the second-generation Continental GT3 for 2019.
Last year there was further success as Nick Jones and Scott Malvern claimed victory at Donington in British GT, just the pair’s fourth race in the series’ top class, as well as the team delivering the Bentley Motorsport Academy programme in Europe.
Despite the fond memories, and strong family link to the Bentley name, which spans five generations, the ending of Bentley’s Continental GT3 racing programme means the team’s memorable half decade racing the thunderous machines has also drawn to a close.
Team Principal Stuart Parker said: “It’s been a fantastic adventure over the past five years with Bentley.
“We started the relationship back in 2016 when we entered the Continental GT3 into the British GT Championship, and it continued a relationship between the Parker family and Bentley that goes right back to my grandfather, Albert.
“Winning the British GT title in 2017 was a real highlight for us all.
“It has been an honour to represent the Bentley brand and we’ve had some fantastic results and some wonderful memories along the way.”
Further announcements on Team Parker Racing’s 2021 racing plans will be announced in due course.