Bumper 42 Car Grid for 4 Hours of Silverstone

With its combination of high speed corners and long straights, making it the perfect track for endurance racing, Silverstone is a firm favourite circuits with the competitors, especially with the 22 drivers and 6 teams from the UK that will be taking part in Round 4 of the European Le Mans Series. 

Largest LMP2 grid of the Silverstone weekend

Once again LMP2 will feature a large grid, with double race winners G-Drive Racing, currently on 62 points, 9 points ahead of Le Castellet race winners Racing Engineering. The grid features three manufacturers – Oreca, Ligier and Dallara – each powered by the same British built Gibson engine.

G-Drive’s Andrea Pizzitola and Roman Rusinov lead the driver’s championship on 62 points, with their teammate, recently crowned FIA Formula E Champion, Jean-Eric Vergne on 50 points.

The LMP2 grid features seven British drivers. Ben Hanley will race in the no21 DragonSpeed Oreca alongside Nicolas Lapierre and Henrik Hedman. At just 19 years old Phil Hanson is already an established name in endurance racing and this season he is racing with Portuguese ace Filipe Albuquerque in the no22 United Autosports Ligier and arrives for the UK race on the back of a podium finish in Austria last month. The no32 United Autosports Ligier will also feature a British driver with 2008 British Formula Ford Champion Wayne Boyd.

Former F1 driver Will Stevens has successfully made the switch to endurance, having won the LMGTE category at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans with British outfit JMW Motorsport. He has also been successful in Le Mans Prototypes and is partnering French duo Julien Canal and Timothe Buret in the no23 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier-Gibson.

The no31 APR-Rebellion Racing Oreca will see Ryan Cullen join fellow Brit Harrison Newey and American Gustavo Menezes, while Garry Findlay will race the no40 G-Drive Racing Oreca.

Entertainment Guaranteed in LMP3

The LMP3 grid has been providing some great entertainment in 2018 and the young prototypes have certainly taken the world of endurance racing by storm. Four British teams and nine British drivers will feature amongst the 19 cars lining up at Silverstone, including current championship leaders and double race winners RLR MSport. Britain’s Rob Garofall will once again join Canadian John Farano and Dutch driver Job Van Uitert in the no15 Ligier-Nissan as they try to extend their slender 4.5 point championship lead.

Tony Wells and Matt Bell have scored one podium finish with their Canadian teammate Garret Grist this season in the no3 United Autosports Ligier and the British pairing will be hoping for more silverware from their home race.

360 Racing is the only all British team on the grid, with Terrence Woodward, Ross Kaiser and James Swift joining up to race the no6 Ligier-Nissan after a second-place finish in Monza. Ecurie Ecosse / Nielsen have also tasted ELMS success with a fighting second place in Austria last time out for Britain’s Colin Noble and Alex Kapadia in the no7 Ligier alongside their Danish teammate Christian Stubbe Olsen. British team BHK Motorsport will run the no16 Ligier-Nissan for Italian duo Francesco Dracone and Jacopo Baratto, while Polish team Team Virage will feature Britain’s Jacob Rattenbury.

Ferrari vs Porsche in LMGTE

Reigning LMGTE Champions JMW Motorsport got their 2018 campaign off to a good start with a win in France but a DNF in Austria has dropped the British team to fifth in the championship. However, with just 16 points separating the top five, there is still all to play for in the LMGTE category.  British drivers Alex MacDowall and Liam Griffin will once again be joined by Spanish hotshot Miguel Molina in the distinctively liveried Ferrari F488. 

The no88 Proton Competition Porsche of Italian trio Matteo Cairoli, Gianluca Roda and Giorgio Roda won last time out in Austria and are the current LMGTE Championship leaders on 54 points with an 8-point advantage over their nearest rivals.

Monza race winners Duncan Cameron and Aaron Scott will be looking for a home win alongside their Irish teammate Matt Griffin, in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari F488. The no86 Gulf Racing Porsche will be back in ELMS for its home race with Michael Wainwright and Ben Barker being joined by Australian Alexander Davidson.

The scene is now set for the 4 Hours of Silverstone to once again provide a weekend of action and drama. Track action will begin on Friday 17 August, with the race on Saturday 18 August. 

CLICK HERE for the entry list for the 4 Hours of Silverstone