Brits on Parade at Silverstone Season Opener

Eight of the drivers who will line up on the LMP2 grid are British with the most famous name being that of Olympic golden boy Sir Chris Hoy who was recently confirmed by Nissan as an entrant for the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.  The reigning LMP3 champion will drive for Algarve Pro Racing with fellow Brit and Asian Le Mans Series Vice Champion Michael Munemann.

JOTA Sport is running in 2016 under the G-Drive Racing banner but will feature regular drivers Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell, with the two race winners being joined by Dutchman Giedo Van Der Garde in the Orange and Black liveried Gibson-Nissan.

Ben Hanley from Manchester will return to the cockpit in 2016.  The former GP2 racer and Renault development driver will race for US team Dragonspeed alongside LMP2 24 Hours of Le Mans Champion Nicolas Lapierre and Sweden’s Henrik Hedman.

Jonathan Coleman from Weston-Super-Mare will race in the no22 SO24! By Lombard Racing Ligier, while former Australian Formula 3 Champion James Winslow from Witham in Essex will race for Swiss team Race Performance.

Michael Lyons returns to the cockpit with Irish team Murphy Prototypes alongside former multiple Belcar champion Marc Goossens.

The only team racing under the Union Flag on the LMP2 is Greaves Motorsport and the reigning ELMS champions are running a Ligier-Nissan for Mexico’s three time winner of the Daytona 24 Memo Rojas and reigning LMP2 FIA World Endurance Champion Julien Canal from France.

The Red, White and Blue Union Flag will fly above two team garages on the LMP3 grid and for ten drivers.  With twenty cars, the LMP3 grid is going to be a race within a race and after an exciting debut year that was won by Sir Chris Hoy and fellow Scot Charlie Robertson, 2016 looks to be even better.

US team United Autosports is based in the UK and fittingly the Anglo-American outfit has four Brits and two Americans in the pair of Nissan powered Ligiers.  The highly experienced Alex Brundle will line up with American Michael Gausch, and Christian England while Matt Bell will partner Wayne Boyd and, American Mark Patterson in the other Ligier.

360 Racing has its base at Silverstone and will field an all British driver line up with 2015 Radical European Masters Champions Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser being joined by James Swift.

The second British team RLR MSport will also have a pair of British drivers, with Ossy Yosuf and James Warburton racing with Dane Morten Dons in the team’s Ligier-Nissan.

Tom Jackson from Maidstone finished 4^th in the 2015 BRDC Formula 4 and moves to endurance racing with Spanish team By Speed Factory.

The nine car LMGTE grid will see three cars flying the British flag along with eight drivers.  Aston Martin Racing are fielding two cars at the 4 Hours of Silverstone with former FIAWEC LMGTE Am winner Stuart Hall joining Germany’s Roald Goethe and Kiwi Richie Stanaway in the no98 Vantage.  The no99 car will be driven by reigning British GT champions Andrew Howard and Jonny Adam and works driver Alex MacDowall will complete the all British line up.

Colchester based JMW Motorsport are once again racing with their distinctive liveried Ferrari 458 with Brits Rob Smith and Rory Butcher being joined by 2010 FIA GT1 World Champion Andrea Bertolini to form a strong driver line up.

The no55 AF Corse Ferrari will feature their unchanged Anglo-Irish trio of drivers with Ireland’s Matt Griffin once again partnering British duo Aaron Scott and Duncan Cameron behind the wheel of the team’s Ferrari 458 Italia.

The 4 Hours of Silverstone is the open round of the six race 2016 European Le Mans Series.  On Friday 15 April there will be two 90-minute Free Practice sessions, followed by Qualifying the following morning and the 4 Hours of Silverstone at 14h30 on Saturday 16 April.