Silverstone 24H series and a little more!!
This weekend’s inaugural Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE (April 1-3, 2016) will mark the start of the new Touring Car Endurance Series powered by Hankook. Reviving the tradition of 24-hour racing at Silverstone, Dutch agency CREVENTIC has taken over the role as the promoter and organiser of the event and has set itself the goal to secure the long-term future of the race by raising its international status. The number of 21 different nationalities represented among the teams and drivers on the grid, with 43 cars on the provisional entry list, reflects the effect of the organisers’ efforts. “We are really happy with the huge interest for this race. Having almost 45 cars for the inaugural Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE is a great success,” CREVENTIC’s Natasha Mark says.
Inspired by the positive feedback after the announcement of the race at Silverstone as a touring car-only event, CREVENTIC decided to make the event part of a new series, the Touring Car Endurance Series powered by Hankook, for which the event serves as the season opener. Meanwhile, the Silverstone round also counts towards the general drivers’ and teams’ standings as well as the ladies’ cup of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook, for which it is the third round of the season following the Hankook 24H DUBAI in January and the Hankook 12H ITALY-MUGELLO in mid-March.
With the classes A2, A3, CUP1, D1, SP-Touring and TCR, six different touring car classes will be on the grid for the Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE. The A2 class caters for compact touring cars like the Renault Clio (including one by reigning 24H SERIES A2 class team champions presenza.eu Racing Team Clio), Toyota GT86, Honda Civic, and Peugeot RCZ. The A3 class is open for bigger cars and includes a good mix of BMW, Honda, SEAT, Volkswagen and Peugeot touring cars. The CUP1 class is the category exclusively reserved for BMW M235i Racing Cup machinery while diesel-powered touring cars have their own class, referred to as D1. Touring cars that don’t fit into any of the other classes can race for success in the SP-Touring class that has two BMWs and a Vortex silhouette racer on the list. The TCR class is for cars to the regulations of this category that enjoys increasing popularity all over the world. Reigning 24H SERIES overall team champions, Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing from Lebanon, are competing in this category with its proven SEAT Leon Cup Racer.
“While we have teams from as far afield as Indonesia, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan and the US, we are delighted that we have so many teams from the UK and Ireland, and many new entrants as well,” CREVENTC’s Natasha Mark comments. “On top of that, we have a great event programme with various support categories, plenty of activities on track and in the paddock, including an autograph session. We are really looking forward to this event and we are all committed to making this a success.”
Thursday, March 31, is reserved for preparations and two optional private test sessions. Official track action for the Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE starts on Friday, April 1, with free practice from 9.35 till 11.05 hrs. The starting grid positions will be decided during qualifying from 13.50 till 14.50 hrs. A night practice is scheduled from 19.30 till 21.00 hrs. Warm-up for the Hankook 24H SILVERSTONE will be held on Saturday, April 2, from 11.40 till 12.10 hrs. The race gets underway at 16.00 hrs (all times UK time, CET is one hour later).
Motors TV will be providing live coverage of the event on Saturday, April 2, from 16.30 till midnight and on Sunday, April 3, from midnight till 17.30 hrs CET. The expert team of Radiolemans.com will be on-site for expert commentary. There is also live streaming in HD quality on the series’ websites at www.24hseries.com and www.touringcarenduranceseries.com. Hankook is the title sponsor and the exclusive tyre supplier of the event. SPAA05 will provide the LED displays that will indicate the positions of the cars in the race. BRM is the official timing partner and provides the trophies for the prize-giving ceremony and will have its own sales booth in the paddock, just like Showtrax, Racing Sportiva, Stand21, TM Performance, and Speedcom. Further information about the Touring Car Endurance Series powered by Hankook can be found at www.touringcarenduranceseries.com and www.24hseries.com.
The full entry list and timetable can be found by clicking on the related link.
Looking for a little more racing at the same meeting??
Well there are 3 support races going on also taking the total number of cars at Silverstone to over 150!!
