Newbridge Motorsport will contest a full-time assault on the inaugural season of the highly-anticipated Endurance Racing Series (ERS) with Guillaume Gruchet behind the wheel of a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, alongside sporadic appearances in the Britcar MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship.
The Endurance Racing Series is new for 2015 and encompasses two-hour and three-hour endurance races for the aspiring amateur and gentleman driver.
Open to an array of machinery, from budget sportscars to flame-spitting GTE Le Mans racers, the series will consist of five rounds, including a fly-away trip to Belgium’s iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with a mixture of two and three-hour races.
Following a highly-successful debut in last season’s MSA British Dunlop Endurance Championship – the flagship Britcar series – Newbridge Motorsport will enter the ERS fray for 2015 with race-winning driver, Gruchet.
The Frenchman finished third overall in the 2014 Britcar Drivers’ points, standing his ground against his more experienced rivals in higher-powered machinery, and is looking to add to his already impressive endurance racing resumé when he single-handedly takes on the ERS in the 997 GT3 Cup that he has become so familiar with.
Gruchet demonstrated a great deal of stamina and resolve, and, having recorded podium finishes at both Spa and Silverstone, the Gentleman driver has been training meticulously over the winter months, both physically and mentally, to ready himself for the challenge at hand.
As well as an assault on the Endurance Racing Series, Newbridge Motorsport will also contest rounds of the Britcar Trophy Championship and Porsche Club GB with Canadian driver and Ophthalmic Surgeon, Doctor Fareed Ali, who will direct a Porsche Boxster in the latter half of the year.
Doctor Ali, Director and Eye Surgeon at OCC LASIK, is a relative newcomer to motor racing, having only tested with the Milton Keynes-based Newbridge Motorsport outfit earlier this year at ‘The Home of British Motor Racing’, Silverstone, alongside injured war veterans from Team BRIT.
Newbridge Motorsport Team Principal, Richard Tovey, said: “The Endurance Racing Series (ERS) gives us the opportunity to do longer races, which will not only be more physically taxing for Guillaume (Gruchet), but will provide us with new challenges. For us, as a team, we will be looking to maximise our potential in the new series and hone the skills of our drivers and team members in order to prepare us for our main goal of competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 2015 looks set to be yet another positive year for Newbridge Motorsport and will help cement our name further in the world of endurance racing.”
Once again this year, the Aston Martin Motorsport Festival will take place as a precursor to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Newbridge Motorsport has shown an interest in entering the annual race with Paul Moravic and ex-Formula 1 driver Mike Wilds.
Up to 60 racing cars will take part in the support race on the morning prior to the start of the main 24-hour enduro and the Milton Keynes-based outfit is on the hunt for an Aston Martin to compete alongside notable racecars, such as the Lola LMP1 and the class-winning DBR9.
Meanwhile, the opening three-hour round of the Endurance Racing Series (ERS) will get underway at Rockingham Motor Speedway on the 1.94mile International Super Sportscar Circuit on Saturday 18 April.