COLLARDLANDSBMW BLANCPAINGTDEAL
BMW junior driver Ricky Collard will contest his first full championship programme with the German manufacturer in this year’s Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.
The 21-year-old son of British Touring Car Championship stalwart Rob is racing a BMW M6 GT3 for the workssupported Rowe Racing team in the five-round series, which kicked off at Monza last weekend. He is sharing the car with full BMW factory drivers Jesse Krohn and Jens Klingmann.
“I really wanted a full programme for this year, and the BGTS Endurance Cup is one of the hardest places to be,” he said. “I’m now into the last year of my current deal and I want to tick some more boxes and hopefully become a full works driver.”
Collard, who became a BMW junior ahead of his 2016 BRDC British Formula 3 campaign, contested a mixed programme of events with BMW in 2017. He raced in the ADAC GT Masters series with Schnitzer, taking one victory, and also won his class at the Nurburgring 24 Hours in a BMW M4 GT4.
Both BMWS struggled last weekend completing a total of 30 laps, while the winning WRT Audi of Dries Vanthoor, Christopher Mies and Alex Riberas managed 95 after a late duel with the Strakka Mercedes of Maximilian Buhk, Alvaro Parente and Maximilian Gotz.
Phil Keen, runner-up in the British GT Championship for the past two seasons with the Barwell Lamborghini squad, is to contest the five BGTS enduros with the Grasser Racing Team. He is sharing a Huracan GT3 entered by the reigning champions with Franck Perera and Rolf Ineichen but suffered a puncture in last weekend’s race. “I did the Silverstone 12 Hours in March with Grasser after [Lamborghini motorsport boss] Giorgio Sana put my name forward,” said Keen. “I’ve always wanted to be in pro scenario to see how I stack up and it’s obviously great to be with a team of Grasser’s pedigree.”
The Monza event was the first for the new M-sport built Bentley Continental GT. The older generation car managed second in Proam with Blancpain debutant and reigning British GT champion Seb Morris.