Mardenborough Joins Team RJN for Silverstone 500

Jann Mardenborough will make a one-off return to the British GT Championship as he joins Team RJN for this month’s Silverstone 500.

The 32-year-old will join Chris Buncombe at the wheel of a second McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, with Alex Buncombe partnering his regular teammate Simon Watts for the second round of the season on April 27-28.

It follows a recent test outing for Mardenborough with RJN during the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Prologue test at Paul Ricard.

Mardenborough previously raced in British GT with RJN in 2012, which marked his first full season in racing after winning the previous year’s Nissan GT Academy competition, and then returned for a one-off at Brands Hatch in 2014.

He went on to represent the Japanese brand in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 as part of the short-lived GT-R LM Nismo program, before embarking on a five-season stint in SUPER GT in Nissan machinery that came to an end following the 2020 campaign.

After a period away from racing, during which he assisted with the production of the Gran Turismo movie centred around his rise from gamer to professional racer, he made his return to the cockpit in last year’s Fuji 24 Hours in a Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

“I’m looking forward to returning for a one-off in the Silverstone 500 endurance round,” said Mardenborough, who also scored a podium at Le Mans in 2013 in the LMP2 class.

“Since my time away racing abroad in Japan and other places I’m pleased to see the championship expand and grow with more top drivers and teams in both GT3 and GT4.

“To do battle against them paired with Chris and RJN, our intent is to win, and we’ve been preparing on and off track to direct ourselves to that vision.

“RJN and [team principal] Bob Neville helped mould me into the driver and, more importantly, the person I am today. I find it very fitting to be working with them again. We will give our all.”

Mardenborough stated last year he was working on a return to full-time racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship or the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and the Briton has also expressed a desire to return to SUPER GT.