Team Parker ‘Carrying Expertise’ into Bentley Dubai Effort

Team Parker Racing is “happy to keep the old girl running” as it brings a Bentley Continental GT3 to the Michelin 24H Dubai for the second year in a row, according to team principal Stuart Parker.

The British squad has entered a single car for Shaun Lynn, Maxwell Lynn, Rob Huff and Scott Malvern, making it one of the very few Continental GT3s still running worldwide.

Parker told Sportscar365 that, much like last year, his eponymous team is running the car at the behest of the elder Lynn, who is the father of Cadillac Hypercar driver Alex Lynn.

“Shaun has got a passion for the car, passion for the brand, wants to see it keep racing,” Parker said.

“Obviously we ran it in period, so it was logical really for us to carry on with it because we’ve got the expertise from the years of running it.

“It’s great to see the old girl still running. At the end of the day it’s probably almost a generation behind the latest GT3s now, but it’s still a good car.

“It still works well, so why not?”

Parker previously had a relationship with Bentley that spanned five seasons before switching to Porsche for 2021 as the British marque effectively shuttered its GT3 program.

“So at the end of that the period, we sold what we had and then Shaun bought this [car] from Bentley last year,” Parker explained.

“Then we got it about two months before the 24H last year. Then obviously put it in a container and it came out here.

“Then got it back in April of this year and then we’ve built it again ready for this one.

“This chassis is actually from America. It’s one of the old K-Pax cars. It wasn’t a car that we ran previously.

“It’s chassis five, I think, this one. It’s the one we ran last year, in the 24H last year as well. So it’s the second go at the 24.

“But Shaun loves the event, loves the brand, so happy to keep the old girl running.”

Despite the brand having almost no more involvement in GT3 competition, Parker said his team still receives a small amount of manufacturer support in the form of a Bentley engineer on-site in Dubai.

“Obviously it’s a bit tricky to get M-Sport support because they’ve got their huge Dakar program on at the moment,” he added.

“Don’t get me wrong, we still get some remote support from them. We’re able to contact them, should we need them. But yeah, the majority of it is Parker now, to be honest.

“Obviously the program has been ended for four years so things are a bit harder to find.

“People have to juggle their memories when you want certain information but ultimately everything’s still there and still available.

“We’ve not had any issues rebuilding the cars. A bit of longer lead times on a few bits, but that’s it.

“Fortunately, because we’ve got two cars, we’ve got the one car complete, and then the second car is actually dismantled and in the container. So bar a shell, we’ve got pretty much everything here with us.

“It’s great to see it out there. And it’s different, isn’t it?

“Everybody’s got Mercedes and Porsche and Ferrari. We know it’s us when we’re going past as well.”