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Silverstone Saturday Notebook

Laurent Mercier’s Saturday notebook from Silverstone…

Photo: Brecht Decancq Photography

Photo: Brecht Decancq Photography

***After being forced to withdraw from Monza due to crash damage, Insight Racing has rolled out with a new Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 chassis for this weekend. As a result, the Danish squad is now running a 2014-spec car.

***Winners of the TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa Gentlemen Trophy with Sofrev-ASP last year, Fred Bouvy will be at the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS ultra fielded by Belgian Audi Club Team WRT for this year’s around-the-clock enduro. The Belgian will be supported by Jean-Luc Blancemain, Christian Kelders and Yves Weerts.

***Fresh off victory last weekend at Imola, Jota Sport engineer Frank Larue is present with TDS Racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series, calling the shots for the team’s BMW Z4 GT3 of Benjamin Lariche, Nicolas Armindo and Eric Clement.

***While it’s been a tradition at Spa for the one-off entries to occupy the old “Endurance” pit lane, the large full-season entry in the Blancpain Endurance Series may force some of the regular teams into the other pit lane as well.

***Boutsen Ginon Racing is eyeing a one or two-car McLaren MP4-12C program for December’s Gulf 12 Hours at Abu Dhabi. Event promoter Andrea Ficarelli, who is in the Silverstone paddock this weekend, told us to expect an entry list to be released shorty. The race, scheduled for Dec. 12 at the Yas Marina Circuit, will again feature GT3 and CN cars.

***Henry Hassid could add a British GT Championship program to his plate for next year. The 2012 French GT champion currently compete in the Blancpain Endurance Series for TDS Racing.

***JRM Racing has released a tribute video for Nigel Stepney, who was killed earlier this month in a road car accident. The former JRM team manager, who helped take the British team to back-to-back FIA GT1 World Championships, was laid to rest yesterday.

***CBS Sports Network will televise same-day coverage of the Blancpain Endurance Series round from Silverstone on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. International viewers can still get access to all the action via the following link: http://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/live

***Be sure to download the official SRO Spotter Guide for Silverstone, which features all 44 starters in tomorrow’s race. It’s the perfect resource for keeping track of driver, team and livery details. Click Here to download.

John Dagys contributed to this report

Laurent Mercier (@LaurentMercier2) is the Editor-in-Chief of Endurance-Info.com, the leading French-language source for the latest sports car racing news from around the world.

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