Horsepower Racing’s Paul Bailey and Andy Schulz will be joined by SV Team Manager Tom Ferrier for the Britcar Silverstone 1000k endurance race (20-22 September), which will be the team's toughest challenge to date.
The SV-led outfit has a slender three-point deficit to Team Parker in the Britcar MSA British Endurance Championship standings. Victory slipped from the team’s grasp when, in a cruel twist of fate, it was struck by a mechanical fault in the final moments of Brands Hatch’s three-hour enduro in July.
A bumper grid of cars is expected to take to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit for the biggest race on the 2013 Britcar calendar. High-powered GT machines from the British Endurance Championship – including a healthy invitational entry – will share the 3.66mile track with competitors from the sister British Production Cup Championship.
Therefore, one of the primary challenges for the Bailey-Schulz-Ferrier driver trio will be slotting the potent Horsepower Racing Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 between slower-moving traffic, during their elongated stints.
“This is the biggest race of my career so far by a massive margin and the amount of seat time we will each be expected to do will be far greater than any other race I’ve ever done,” said Bailey. “Silverstone is the top circuit in the UK – one of the best in Europe – and Horsepower Racing has had great success there in the past.
“We’ve come a long way with the Aston Martin since the start of the year and there’s still a lot of scope for improvement in terms of setup. There are other teams with far more experience of the car and that makes a big difference. Our chief objective will be to finish the race at the top of our class and bolster our championship position. It’s fantastic having Tom (Ferrier) aboard. He might be a bit rusty to begin with, but I have full confidence that he will be an excellent addition to the driver line-up.”
The level of competition will be much higher than in previous rounds, with an eclectic array of machinery entered for the race, including at least three Aston Martin GT3s.
Both Bailey and regular team-mate Schulz have worked hard to hone their race craft this season, but state that lapping Silverstone safely without losing time in traffic will be a big ask.
Schulz, who partook in a track day at Silverstone on Wednesday (18 September) in preparation for his Britcar outing at the Northamptonshire venue, said: “I think Sunday’s race is going to be mainly about reliability, although it’ll be interesting to see how we face it, i.e. whether we can think of a strategy to win the race or one that simply gets us to the end. The difference in closing speeds to the Production Cup runners is my main concern. The circuit is quite wide and there’s a lot of space to pass, but it will be quite easy to get wrong-footed. I’ll just use some discretion and be more patient than I normally would be in a shorter race to ensure that we finish.
“Achieving points for winning our class or winning the race outright would be fantastic, but I just hope our bad luck is out of the way after the disappointment of Brands Hatch.”
For SV Team Manager, Tom Ferrier, this will his first competitive outing for over two years and he’s looking forward to “blowing off the cobwebs” at Silverstone.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunity and it’ll be good to blow off the cobwebs," said Ferrier. "I can’t even remember the last time I raced so it’ll take a few laps to get back up to speed, I’m sure.
“We’re still mulling over strategy. The length of the stints will primarily be dictated by fuel use so we’ll know how long they’ll be once we’ve been testing. Winning our class is usually the aim, but there will be a lot of traffic to negotiate and, generally, getting to the finish is the main exercise in the Silverstone 1000k. Anything other than that would be a bonus."
He added: “I shall remove myself from my usual Team Manager duties as much as possible and try to remember what it’s like to be a racing driver again. It’ll be hot work in the car so I’ve been in the sauna a lot this week to acclimatise to the conditions I'll face. I just know I’ll get the racing bug back on Sunday – I’ll want to go back to doing it week in, week out!”
The Horsepower Racing team will take to the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit for the start of the Britcar Silverstone 1000k at 12.00 on Sunday 22 September.
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