LNT Announces Ginetta LMP1 Driver Lineups for Silverstone

Ginetta LMP1 program operator Team LNT has announced its six-man driver lineup for the first round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship.

2003 Le Mans winner Guy Smith and two LMP1 drivers from the previous WEC season, Ben Hanley and Egor Orudzhev, have been included for the 4 Hours of Silverstone.

Smith will make his return to international prototype competition for the first time since the 2013 American Le Mans Series, driving the No. 6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER.

The former Bentley factory GT star will be joined by Chris Dyson, whose last prototype appearance came in the European Le Mans Series five years ago, and Ginetta works driver Mike Simpson.

Smith told Sportscar365 during last month’s pre-season Prologue test at Circuit de Catalunya that an LMP1 reunion with his former ALMS co-driver Dyson was “definitely a chance”.

The 44-year-old was one of eight drivers to sample the Ginetta G60 package, which is set to race with an AER engine for the first time.

“It was great to get behind the wheel of an LMP1 car again, the game has moved on very significantly in a very short time,” he said.

“The Ginetta is a very impressive car, the power from the AER and the pace we saw in testing really lit the fire underneath me to do this again.”

The sister No. 5 Ginetta will see Hanley team up with Orudzhev and factory asset Charlie Robertson.

Hanley and Orudzhev both drove BR Engineering BR1s in the 2018-19 WEC ‘Super Season’, with Hanley competing for DragonSpeed and Orudzhev representing SMP Racing.

Both of those programs ended after this year’s Le Mans season finale, leaving the two drivers open to signing up for the Ginetta LMP1 program.

Orudzhev tested at Barcelona with his ex-SMP co-driver Stephane Sarrazin, while Hanley did not take part in the Prologue.

“We’re really excited to show what the Ginetta can do this season,” commented Ginetta chairman Lawrence Tomlinson.

“The mix of experience, consistency and raw speed that we are announcing for Silverstone has a great chance of helping us to show what the car is capable of in a field of really quick cars and world-class drivers.”