Douglas Motorsport to enter Prototype Cup

Douglas Motorsport will enter the British Prototype Cup Series next year after taking delivery of a Ligier JS P3 machine.

The Northamptonshire-based squad, which is prolific in both the Ginetta Junior and GT4 Supercup classes as well as the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, received its first LMP3 chassis from Ligier’s UK agent, United Autosports last week.

The car has been bought by Douglas’s GT4 Supercup driver Mike Newbold, who will race the car alongside an as-yet unnamed team-mate in the inaugural Prototype Cup preview race at Snetterton on October 8/9.

Douglas will then enter the full six-round series next season, with a view to running multiple cars.

“The deal came about mainly through Mike but it’s one that really suits us as a team,” said team head Wayne Douglas.

“There’s a lot of buzz around LMP3 racing at the moment and it fits in with our ladder of series. For sportscars we run Ginetta Juniors, and then the GT4 Supercup, and after that LMP3 is a great option. Likewise many drivers coming out of British F3 are looking at prototypes too, so it’s got a wide appeal.

“We’d like to run two cars in Britain next year to gain experience of the racing and then perhaps look to do the European Le Mans Series. The Ligier is a great piece of kit. It’s like an F3 car with wheel covers on. I can see it being very popular.”

United Autosports is expected to run three cars in the first Prototype Cup race at Snetterton, with further entries expected from Tockwith Motorsport, Team RLR and Murphy Prototypes, pending the homologation of its Ave-riley chassis.