Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 racer Sean Walkinshaw is aiming to continue his impressive debut season in the Blancpain Endurance Series with another strong points result when round three of the campaign takes place at Paul Ricard in southern France next Saturday, 20th June.
Just a week on from his most recent outing in the sister Blancpain Sprint Series at Zolder in Belgium, where with team-mate Craig Dolby he bagged a points-scoring double, Sean is determined to mount a serious bid for a maiden Endurance Series podium in the longest race of the season so far.
Already a rostrum visitor in the Sprint Series, Chipping Norton-based Sean has his sights set on some of the same in the longer format Endurance Series where he and Dolby will be joined by fellow MRS GT-Racing driver Martin Plowman for next Saturday’s six-hour contest.
As well as being twice the length of the regular Endurance Series races, round three will also feature some intriguing night-time action with the encounter scheduled to begin late afternoon and reach its conclusion at 23.00, local time.
“Paul Ricard should be fantastic and I really am looking forward to the longer format”, commented the 21-year-old, “It’ll only be the second time I’ll have raced at night, the first was in the Gulf 12 Hours back in December but the Abu Dhabi track was so well lit it was like driving in the day! So this will be a new experience for me.
“It’s been a great season so far in both the Sprint and Endurance Series and we’re all feeling pretty confident. We’re looking to continue our strong results performance in the enduro championship and hopefully we’ll have a good qualifying to show the true pace of the team and car.”
During the previous Endurance Series event at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit last month, the MRS GT-Racing trio secured an impressive top five finish with the Nissan GT-R concluding the three hour contest just 12 seconds shy of a coveted podium result – having started 22nd on the 61-car grid.
Coupled with a seventh place Pro Cup finish from the opening event of the season at Monza in Italy, Sean and his team-mates arrive at Paul Ricard fifth in the championship, just 10 points shy of the top three, while MRS GT-Racing is fourth in the team standings.
While next weekend will mark Sean’s first competitive visit to the Le Castellet track as a GT driver, he does have prior experience of the venue from his time racing in Formula 3 in the EuroFormula Open in 2013 and 2014.
“I do like the track, it’s a great facility and it should be a pretty awesome spectacle with 60 or so cars battling it out”, added Sean, “My pace in F3 there was good so I’m hoping for a strong weekend. The team has done a fantastic job with the car all season, so I’m sure we’ll be very competitive again.”
Following practice and pre-qualifying next Friday, 19th June, final qualifying for round three of the Blancpain Endurance Series will take place at 10.05 (local time) on Saturday, 20th June, with the 1,000km six-hour race itself beginning at 17.00 (local time). Live coverage will be available online at www.blancpain-gt-series.com/endurance/live.
Provisional 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series Driver Standings (after Rd2):
5th Sean Walkinshaw/Craig Dolby/Martin Plowman, 16pts
Provisional 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series Team Standings (after Rd2):
4th MRS GT-Racing, 20pts