Chipping Norton racing driver Sean Walkinshaw heads to the Nurburgring in Germany next weekend, 19th/20th September, for the eagerly awaited final round of the Blancpain Endurance Series – the iRacing.com GT500.
Off the back of a competitive outing in the sister Blancpain Sprint Series last weekend at Portimao in Portugal with Always Evolving Motorsport team-mate Craig Dolby, the 21-year-old is very confident of a strong conclusion to the Endurance Series where the duo will be joined by Martin Plowman.
All year, the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 – which is engineered on behalf of AEM by leading motorsport preparation specialists JRM Group – has performed strongly and the current championship position of 16th in the Pro Cup driver standings is by no means representative of the British trio’s true pace.
Starting the Endurance Series campaign with an impressive seventh place Pro Cup finish at Monza in Italy, the Nissan racers continued their excellent start to 2015 with a top five result on home ground at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit – only missing out on the podium by 12 seconds after three hours of intense competition.
Frustratingly a bit of misfortune at Paul Ricard in France, and also during the blue riband Total 24 Hours of Spa last time out, impacted the team-mates’ championship position so they’re determined to go all out for a maiden podium finish at the Nurburgring a week from now.
“I can’t wait for next weekend’s race, after a couple of disappointing rounds in the Endurance Series we’re all more focused and determined than ever to end the championship with a real flourish and to try and challenge for our first podium”, said Sean.
“The car has been fantastic all year, the guys at JRM have done an incredible job, and in the Sprint Series last weekend – which was our first event with Always Evolving Motorsport – we were very competitive. So much can happen in the three-hour Endurance Series races, so nothing can be taken for granted, but there’s a lot of positivity in the team we can end the championship on a high.”
So close is the Endurance Series points battle a strong result for the AEM Nissan at the Nurburgring could mathematically hoist Sean and his team-mates into the coveted championship top 10, which would be an excellent recovery following the disappointment of the previous two rounds.
Free practice at the Nurburgring will take place at 10.05 on Saturday, 19th September, with pre-qualifying getting underway at 15.15 (UK time). On Sunday, 20th September, qualifying will begin at 07.30 (UK time) with the three-hour final race of the Blancpain Endurance Series getting underway at 13.45 (UK time).