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34 Entries Confirmed for 6H Silverstone

Multiple driver changes for Six Hours of Silverstone later this month…

Photo: MPS Agency

A total of 34 cars will line up for round three of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone later this month, following the release of an updated entry list for the Aug. 17-19 round.

The number is two lower than expected following the omission of Ginetta’s G60-LT-P1s, while there are also driver changes in each of the four classes.

In LMP1, ByKolles has listed IndyCar racer Rene Binder alongside Oliver Webb and another driver whose identity is yet to be confirmed.

The German squad is set to test a new aero package on its ENSO CLM P1/01 NISMO at Spa next week, where 2017 European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Enzo Guibbert is expected to get his first laps in the car.

There has also been a change in the No. 17 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 AER which will see Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev compete as a pair without early-season co-driver Matevos Isaakyan.

Ex-Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button is confirmed for his home race in the No. 11 SMP car, while Le Mans winners Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima are all back for Toyota.

The LMP1 lineups for DragonSpeed and Rebellion Racing also remain unchanged.

There have been three driver changes to the seven-car full-season LMP2 grid, with McLaren junior Nyck de Vries set to make his endurance racing debut in the Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217 Gibson.

Another debutant of sorts is 2014 World Endurance champion Anthony Davidson, who will make his LMP2 class debut in the No. 31 DragonSpeed Oreca 07 Gibson alongside Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez.

There is also a change in the Larbre Competition Ligier JS P217 Gibson, which sees occasional Asian Le Mans Series and Blancpain GT competitor Yoshiharu Mori replace Julien Canal.

In GTE-Pro, all crews are now composed of two drivers following Aston Martin Racing’s decision to move Jonny Adam and Darren Turner into different roles.

Adam’s subsequent re-assignment to the No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage represents one two driver movements in GTE-Am, while the other is Gianluca Roda moving into the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR in place of Khaled al Qubaisi.

Roda Sr. will share the Proton car with his son Giorgio Roda and Porsche Young Professional Matteo Cairoli, reuniting the trio that won the recent ELMS round at the Red Bull Ring.

Daniel Lloyd is a UK-based reporter for Sportscar365, covering the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, among other series.

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