Schandorff to Sub for Millroy in Inception McLaren

Photo: Frederik Schandorff Facebook

Newly crowned International GT Open champion Frederik Schandorff will sub for Ollie Millroy in the No. 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 in this weekend’s Motul Petit Le Mans.

The 24-year-old Lamborghini GT3 Junior driver, who also won the 2020 GT World Challenge Europe Silver Cup, will join Brendon Iribe and McLaren factory driver Ben Barnicoat at the wheel of the Optimum Motorsport-run GT Daytona class entry in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale.

Schandorff replaces team regular Millroy, who has elected to stay home due the pending birth of his child. 

“With Fern 38 weeks pregnant and some small complications in the last few days, I owe it to her and Mylo to be here for them over the next few weeks,” Millroy wrote on Instagram.

“It’s always tough as a sportsman to make a decision like this as we’re born to push and compete no matter what, but I also have a bigger responsibility as husband and as a dad to be here for my family.

“Thank you to Brendan and the whole team for being so understanding and I wish them the very best of luck. I will be watching every single lap, even if Fern goes into labor.”

As first revealed by Sportscar365, the British squad is making its WeatherTech Championship debut this weekend with an eye towards a potential increased program next year.

For Barnicoat, who last raced with the team in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a GTE-Am class Ferrari, Inception will be faced with a number of challenges this weekend.

“This is our first race in IMSA – for me, the team, Brendan – so there will be a huge amount to learn,” said Barnicoat.

“The rules are different from what we’re used to in European championships like GT World Challenge and GT Open, but there are some similarities to the Asian Le Mans Series, where we first started the season.

“The team have proven to be extremely adaptable to carrying challenges all season, so I’m confident that we’ll be able to take this in our stride.”

Despite being new to IMSA competition, Barnicoat has previous experience of Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, having tested there with McLaren in March 2020.

“I will be pulling on that experience quite a bit this weekend as neither Brendan nor Frederik have driven this track before,” he said.

“The plan for the week will be to prioritize Brendan and Frederik in terms of seat time at such a challenging track as I have driven here before and that means I’ll have to dig deep when I get my turn!

“That’s the best route to take to make sure they are both comfortable and up to speed.

“With 15 GTD cars in the field, there will be some natural attrition, so again, to be there into the final hour should yield a good result.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge, my last race of the season, and it’s great to be back out with inception racing and we’ll aim to go out on a high.”

John Dagys

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