This week Bentley announced its racing plans for the coming 2015 season, with an expanded programme for the several customer teams they have which will see the Bentley Continental GT3 racing across the globe this year.
The works Bentley M-Sport team will continue to field two Continental GT3's in the Blancpain Endurance Series, as they did last year. The M-Sport will also add further entries in some of the most prestigious GT3 races in the world such as the Bathurst 12 Hours in February, Nurburgring 24 Hours in May and the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina circuit in December.
Alongside the works teams efforts this year Bentley will also rely on several customer teams to help the team win this year. In Europe the vastly experienced HTP Motorsport will field five cars across the Blancpain Endurance Series, Blancpain Sprint Series and German ADAC GT Masters this year. In America Team Dyson Racing will race in the Pirelli World Challenge this year after showing promise in a half season last year. Finally in Asia Team Absolute will race in the premier GT Asia series.
On the driving front the works team has decided to keep the all British line up that claimed two victories in the Blancpain Endurance Series. The line up in the Number 7 entry remains as Guy Smith, Andy Meyrick and Steven Kane. As for the sister Number 8 entry this car struggled last year and the team has decided to rectify this with an all new line up for this year. 2014 drivers Duncan Tappy, Jerome D'Ambrosio and Antoine Leclerc have been replaced with experienced GT racers Maxi Buhk, Andy Soucek and Maxime Soulet.
After an impressive return to sportscar racing in 2014, both M-Sport and Bentley will be looking to take a step forward this year and seriously challenge for premier GT titles such as the Blancpain Endurance and Sprint Series. The Number 7 entry led the way last year and the team now have two very high quality driver line up's, alongside a new partner in HTP Motorsport which will only add to their challenge this year. It seems this year Bentley will be a serious threat to the likes of the ART McLaren, WRT Audi and JRM Nissan teams. This year promises to be a great year for GT racing.
What are your thoughts on Bentley's plans for this year? Please feel free to comment below.
