2015 ELMS Season Gets Underway at Silverstone with 31 entries

There is plenty of interest for the British fans throughout the field with 10 cars and 24 drivers racing under the Union Jack.  Silverstone will also mark the first race in a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) for multiple Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy as he embarks on the next step in his quest to compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Eleven cars, one third of the entire grid, are entered into the ELMS premier class, LMP2, with all eyes on 2014 LMP2 24 Hours of Le Mans victors and reigning ELMS Vice Champions JOTA Sport to see if they can secure victory at home.  British drivers Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell are joined once again by Portugal’s Filipe Albuquerque in the team’s Gibson-Nissan LMP2 race car.  The other British team on the LMP2 grid is the Greaves Motorsport Gibson-Nissan of Swiss driver Gary Hirsch and Sweden’s Bjorn Wirdheim. 

Silverstone based Irish team Murphy Prototypes were the fastest car at last week’s official preseason test at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France, with Nathanael Berthon setting the pace.  He is joined in the Oreca-Nissan by Britain’s Michael Lyons and American Mark Patterson.  

Half of the LMP2 grid are the teams using the race winning Oreca 03 open cockpit chassis, including two run by AF Corse, two for Ibanez Racing, one for Murphy Prototypes and one for Eurasia Motorsport. 2012 ELMS Champions Thiriet by TDS Racing are also using an Oreca chassis, but the French team will run the brand new Oreca 05 closed cockpit car. The all French driver line up of Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey and Tristan Gommendy had a successful test at Le Castellet last week finishing as the second fastest team. 

American team Krohn Racing will use the race winning Ligier JS P2 closed cockpit chassis with a Judd engine and Michelin tyres for the 2015 season. 

In LMP3 there are five cars due to participate in the open race of the 2015 season using the recently unveiled Nissan powered Ginetta.  Britain’s Team LNT will enter two cars with British driver Michael Simpson and France’s Gaetan Paletou in the no2 car but all eyes will be on the no3 Ginetta driven by Chris Hoy and fellow Scot Charlie Robertson. 

Lanan Racing is an all British affair with Alex Craven, Charlie Hollings and Joey Foster sharing the driver duties.  UK team University of Bolton with be joined by Spanish team SVK by Speed Factory. 

Last year the LMGTE provided some excellent entertainment and with 2014 champions SMP Racing moving up to compete in the World Endurance Championship it means there will be a new LMGTE champion in 2015.  The class features nine cars with BMW, Porsche and Ferrari making up the grid. 

Britain’s three time World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx has joined the BMW Team MARCVDS team, the Belgian team entering a BMW Z4 for the 2015 season after winning the final race of the 2014 ELMS season in Portugal. 

After narrowly missing out on the title in 2014, Britain’s Duncan Cameron and Ireland’s Matt Griffin are joined in the AF Corse Ferrari 458 by another of the Brits on the grid Aaron Scott.  Colchester based JMW Motorsport are also running an all British line up with George Richardson, Robert Smith and Samuel Tordoff sharing the driving seat during the four hours races. 

Gulf Racing UK have entered one car in the LMGTE class and one in the GTC. The LMGTE spec Porsche 911 RSR will also feature a full British line up of drivers with Adam Carroll, Phil Keen and Michael Wainwright. 

Six cars will form the GTC grid at Silverstone, with a mouth watering array of manufacturers – Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari and Lamborghini. 

2013 LMGTE AM World Endurance Drivers Champion Stuart Hall will join 2011 FIA GT3 Champion Francesco Castellacci and Switzerland’s Thomas Flohr in the no62 AF Corse Ferrari, while the other British interest on the GTC grid lies with the Gulf Racing UK entered Lamborghini Gallardo of German driver Roald Goethe, who is joined by UK drivers Dan Brown and Archie Hamilton. 

The 4 Hours of Silverstone will take place on Saturday 11 April, with the race due to start at 14h30 BST.   Free practice will take place on Friday 10 April and qualifying on Saturday morning starting at 11h05.