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Hanley to Sub for Lynn at G-Drive for Nürburgring

Ben Hanley to sub for Alex Lynn at G-Drive…

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Ben Hanley will sub for Alex Lynn in the No. 26 G-Drive Racing Oreca 07 Gibson at next month’s Six Hours of Nürburgring, in the final piece of the Formula E date clash puzzle that has impacted numerous FIA World Endurance Championship drivers.

The 32-year-old Briton will join full-season drivers Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet at the wheel of the TDS Racing-run Oreca for the fourth round of the WEC season.

It will mark the third different LMP2 car Hanley has driven for in the last three WEC races, having initially filled in for Matthieu Vaxiviere in the sister No. 28 TDS Oreca at Spa and was part of his season-long European Le Mans Series lineup at DragonSpeed at Le Mans.

Hanley takes the seat initially tabbed for John Martin, who tested with the team at the WEC Prologue in March, but was then offered to Porsche GT factory driver Laurens Vanthoor, who turned down the ride in order to concentrate on his commitments in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Lynn, a reserve driver for DS Virgin Racing in Formula E, was only officially confirmed as Jose Maria Lopez’s replacement for the New York City double-header round on Wednesday, with Toyota Gazoo Racing unable to release the Argentinean from his WEC commitments. 

Fellow Toyota LMP1 driver Sebastien Buemi, who currently leads the Formula E championship, appears set to miss the New York round, also due to his contract with the Japanese manufacturer.

WEC drivers Sam Bird, Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Prost and Nelson Piquet Jr., meanwhile, have prioritized Formula E, with Pipo Derani and Filipe Albuquerque having been confirmed as Prost and Piquet’s replacements at Vaillante Rebellion.

The G-Drive entry will be subject to a three-minute stop-and-hold penalty in the race due to an incident involving Rusinov at Le Mans.

The FIA issued the penalty due to an incident involving the Russian driver and the Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR of Khaled Al Qubaisi, in what was Al Qubaisi’s third run-in with a prototype in the last six races he started.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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