Akkodis ASP Confirms Barnicoat’s Return for COTA

Akkodis ASP has confirmed that Ben Barnicoat will return to the team for next month’s Lone Star Le Mans round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The British driver will take up his regular seat aboard ASP’s No. 78 Lexus RC F GT3 for the Circuit of The Americas race on Sept. 7 alongside Arnold Robin and Finn Gehrsitz, in what will be his first WEC outing since the Qatar 1812km season opener.

Barnicoat was sidelined for three months after a mountain bike accident in March, which ruled him out of the 6 Hours of Imola and 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as three rounds of his parallel IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship campaign.

Clashes with his WeatherTech Championship program for Vasser Sullivan Racing meant Barnicoat was always set to miss the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, and also kept him from competing in last month’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo round.

Esteban Masson filled the vacant seat in the No. 78 Lexus for Imola, while Toyota factory driver Yuichi Nakayama was drafted in for the Spa and Sao Paulo races and Jack Hawksworth deputized for his IMSA teammate at Le Mans.

Robin and Gehrsitz sit sixth in the LMGT3 drivers’ standings having scored a best finish of third together with Masson at Imola.

ASP scored its first WEC class win at Sao Paulo with the No. 87 Lexus driven by Jose Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid and Razvan Umbrarescu.

A full entry list for the Lone Star Le Mans round of the WEC is expected this week.